


Will You Remember, Will You Forget?

by MagusThree



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:15:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 48,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26210227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagusThree/pseuds/MagusThree
Summary: Redemption was such a ridiculous concept, and yet Angel Dust vanished from his bed one evening, waking up in a white-golden room bathed in brilliant, calming light. But even though he had found a path to redemption, is it truly better than the life he left behind?
Relationships: Alastor/Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Arackniss/Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel), Charlie Magne/Vaggie, Cherri Bomb/Molly (Hazbin Hotel)
Comments: 122
Kudos: 303
Collections: Completed Radiodust





	1. Will You Remember?

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of redemption actually working, but what does that mean for those that get left behind? Especially poor Charlie. Also, I found inspiration in an upcoming game for this idea of what happens to those who ascend. It made me sad writing/thinking about it, not going to lie. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

It was strange, going to sleep in one’s bed and waking up somewhere else entirely. Well, okay, that was sort of normal for Angel Dust. But not waking up somewhere as bright and beautiful as this? He squinted against the light, something that was far more brilliant than any form of light in hell, and he pushed himself up on two arms, the other two shading his view so he could process just where the hell he was.

After a few moments of staring, it finally clicked. Both the irony of his previous line of thought, and where he’d woken up.

The room he was in was an almost sterile, pearly white, with intricate patterns along the pillars upholding the ceiling, which depicted winged beings of pure beauty besting beasts and monsters in complex, well-kept murals. And all around him, sealed doors that held a strange, golden glow stood out against the white.

“…the fuck is this?” Angel asked, and his voice echoed through the room. He suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious about his language and the lack of clothing he was wearing, specifically the pink panties he’d fallen asleep in that did not leave much to the imagination down below. It wasn’t like he had expected to just be up and kidnapped!

He’d just gotten up to start wandering when one of the doors swung open. It was almost like looking in a mirror, the creature that stood in the doorway bearing a remarkable resemblance to him? Well, him when he wore his favorite drag wig. Only this one bore wings.

“Hello, Anthony Ragnatela.” The voice was oddly soothing, and Angel settled back on the bed he was laying in in the center of the room. “Welcome to Heaven.”

“…you gotta’ be shittin’ me.” Angel just stared. He’d never given anyone his real name down in hell, and yet…? His brows furrowed as he took in the soft feminine being in front of him, noting her four legs and four arms. Her wings were the same white color as her fur, and there were pink patches of hearts along parts of the feathers, both on the outside and inside of the wings. Her smile was wide and welcoming, though there was also just something…off. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it.

“Now now, you should watch your language,” she chirped happily as she approached, her wings folding behind her. “That simply won’t do up here.”

“Yer sayin’ I’m actually in Heaven.” Angel’s brows furrowed. “Like…actually?”

“Yes. Though you are a rare case, it is not impossible for sinners to find redemption. Normally it’s more through self-reflection and penance. You found your redemption through a different means; through self-improvement and a willingness to change. And so, here you are.” She gestured with her upper arms before giggling. “Are you ready to ascend?”

Angel tilted his head. There was just something...wrong about her. The way she looked reminded him of him and his brother, he hadn’t seen any other spider creatures quite like them. But her smile felt fake, there lacked a true warmth behind it. And her frame indicated a focus on maintaining perfect posture. He knew about fake expressions, he’d had to wear them consistently in his line of work. And something about it made his skin crawl, but...this was supposed to be Heaven, right?”

“Uh…yeah, sure. What does ascendin’ mean?” he asked, absently standing up. Compared to her flowing robes, his pink panties stood out. He was feeling really self-conscious now.

“You must relinquish your sins,” the woman stated, happy to show him towards one of the doors. “Your decision to grow your wings is dependent on your ability to let go of your past and embrace your future afterlife.”

“So, uh…s’at mean I gotta’ redeem myself again, or?”

“It means you must let go.” She took his hands, her palms were warm he noted, and smiled. “Remove that which makes you desire sin, and you will find your ascension.”

“Right…” Angel shifted. He was really starting to feel uncomfortable, but he had to try and quell it. This was the damn point, to redeem himself. He hadn’t thought it was real, yet here he was. His mind flitted back briefly to the hotel, to the previous night and how wonderful it had been…but he shook his head. “Alright, so I Just gotta’…what, remove my gay? I ain’t sure that’s possible, toots.”

“Not quite.” She stood before the door and smiled, reaching to open it. “This is your reliquary. When you are ready, you will step into this room and pray. Pray away your past sins, your transgressions. Liberate yourself and become something greater. It will make sense, in time.” She put her hands on his shoulder and smiled.

“Say, who ARE ya, anyway? You look like me?”

“Coincidence.” She smiled. “But…my name now is simply Molly.”

Molly… Angel’s brain screeched to a halt and he wheeled around to stare at her, but she was already gone. The room holding the reliquary still had that same, heavenly glow as outside, but it was softer and more somber. He swallowed before moving over to inspect it, peering through the stained glass at the items within. They looked like a random assortment of objects, and he opened the cabinets to start filtering through them.

The first one that caught his attention was the glass moth, its wings spread wide and containing a red like smog. A shiver ran up his spine as he reached and touched it, furrowing as he watched the smog swirl into a splitting image of Valentino. His body ceased automatically, and the air seemed to be pushed from his lungs as he stared at it in horror. But his hand wouldn’t move, and as much as his mind reeled he was stuck firmly in place.

And then…his body began to relax. Angel blinked as he felt the tension, the pain, the memories all leave him. In mere moments, he simply…forgot who that was. The image of the moth was still prominent within the confines of the glass structure, but he couldn’t even put a name to it. 

Angel set the moth back down before looking over the rest, his hand hovering briefly over another item before finally settling on the strange snow globe. In the center, he could easily point out the hotel. He shook the globe, kicking up the flurry of red glitter that danced around the structure, and he could just barely see through the windows. 

Charlie and Vaggie were arguing with him about spending the night on the town, Niffty was offering to clean his toys while she was working on his room, Husk was offering him a drink in exchange for a good boy ticket. The memories all swirled around the inside of the globe, flashing here and there in a flurry of red glitter. And, when the final flake hit the ground, he didn’t remember at all what the hotel meant, or what the purpose of the globe was for. 

Angel set it back down, brows furrowing. Two items in the cabinet that didn’t make any sense? What was their purpose? He settled back, a wave of uncertainty crashing over him, but he reached for the next object; a glass bomb. And inside of it, he smiled a little as he watched his best friend in the whole afterlife laughing as she blew up a group of imps, or teasing him over an iced coffee. His hold tightened somewhat as the memories played out, until it felt like he’d been there for hours or even days. He could remember the shape of her single eye, the vibrant coloration of her hair, the beautiful array of smoke that erupted from each of her bombs. The way she sat with him in bed after a hard day, or took him out to shop when he needed something to pick up his spirits. His heart fluttered pleasantly as he watched each scene unfold.

When he set the glass bomb back down, he had no idea who she was. She was pretty, but that was the limit of his knowledge.

It was automatic at that point; he felt like he was missing something each time he touched an object, but he didn’t know what. And he didn’t particularly care because if he couldn’t remember what he was missing, how was it that important to him in the first place? It made sense to keep touching each item; his mind and heart felt lighter and lighter for each one he did.

Finally, all that was left was a red stained glass deer. He picked it up gingerly, almost hesitating because he wasn’t sure about this. The emotions that swirled in him as he watched his memories play out brought tears to his eyes. He could hear music, a soft tune that started to reverberate around the room.

_Will you remember? Will you forget?_

His brows furrowed as he listened, watching the way the creature within the deer statue pulled him into a dance. The smile on his face was serene, and his heart began to pulse faster. The way those red ears perked up when they saw him, or that smile grew more genuine when their eyes met. His voice was so soft against the side of his head as they danced, or as they sat on his bed. That time they played in the kitchen, dousing each other in flour and laughing when the maid came by to find her kitchen a mess. The feeling of soft lips as they stood before the fireplace, having finished a dance and getting caught up in the moment. How their bodies moved together, shedding clothing and ending up tangled in the silken sheets of the fancy bed, their breaths hot against the other’s cheeks. 

Angel set the deer back down, and he stood back from the cabinet. None of these items meant anything to him, and he couldn’t even remember why he’d been looking so intently at each either. He shook his head absently before turning to approach the door, knocking gently against the surface.

“I think I’m done with…whatever this room was for.”

It opened and Molly was standing there, smiling as she appraised him. “Have you cleansed yourself of your memories, darling?”

“I think so. I don’t…remember anything before waking up in this room? Where was I?” His brows furrowed as he tried to think, but he came up blank. All he remembered was the bed in the center of the room, and the horrifying depiction of monsters being fought by angelic beings above. “What happened to me?”

“You died.” Molly took his hand, pulling him forward. “And now, you’re here in Heaven. You’ve purged yourself of everything that bound you to your previous life, and you’ve opened the way forward to becoming a warrior of Heaven.”

A warrior of Heaven. He tilted his head at that, feeling a strange hesitation to accepting those words, but eventually he just nodded. After all, he didn’t have anything else to return to, right? 

“What was my name?”

“Anthony. You can choose to keep it, or pick another one?”

“Anthony is fine.” He stood before her, a blissful smile on his face that mirrored hers. He’d gotten so lucky to end up in such a welcoming place, and with a nice reception to boot. Of course he wanted to serve the powers that made him feel so at peace with the world. The reliquary room was quickly forgotten as he followed Molly through another door, further into the beautiful citadel of clouds that awaited him. His heart had never felt quite so at ease.


	2. Will You Forget?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the warm comments on the first chapter, and for all of the kudos! Believe me when I say I have big plans for this story. I've decided to do an upload schedule of Sundays and Wednesdays, so look forward to the next chapter this Sunday. There is so much story to tell, and I'm so eager for all of you to see what I have in store! And they will get longer, I just want to get the established chapters in place first so we all know the world.

Redemption. The concept was laughable in a place like Hell, considering the denizens’ choice of revelry and afterlife activities. But it was something that Charlie Magne wanted so badly to believe, because every year the extermination was getting worse. The overpopulation of Hell was reaching a critical point, and her parents weren’t doing anything about it. 

Every time she stood atop her balcony overlooking the Pentagram, her chest clenched painfully when she beheld the streets littered with corpses impaled on spears, torn to shreds, ripped limb from limb in an effort to make the demise as excruciating as possible. She had to do something.

And she did. It had _worked_. 

Their first patron was the porn star actor Angel Dust. And though he was resistant, though he at first saw it as just a free room and food, he’d started to grow hopeful. And in his hope grew resolve. He got clean, he stopped doing drugs, and he even stopped going out to work the streets. Though…that was more helped by him finding someone at the hotel to spend time with. He tried really hard, and it paid off in the end.

Charlie paused at the door, peeking inside and offering a little smile to herself. Redemption wasn’t something that could be controlled, it just…happened. As if they were stolen away in the night. And while the odds of someone kidnapping him on Valentino’s orders had crossed her mind, she knew that nothing in Hell would keep Angel from Fat Nuggets for longer than a few days. 

And…Vaggie wouldn’t have ever left her for longer than a few hours…

She stepped in and made sure the little pig’s bowl was filled, though it looked like he still hadn’t touched his food from the night before. He barely ate, only when it seemed like he couldn’t resist any longer did he stick his snout out from beneath the bed and dig a little into the food waiting for him.

“I miss him, too,” she offered gently, reaching to run her hand along his back. The soft snorting and miserable keen had her heart breaking. It was in Angel’s best interest to have moved on, but…she still wished Fat Nuggets could have gone with him.

Charlie straightened and left the room, eyes wandering down the hall. It was a habit she’d developed a while ago, always looking for a hint of grey or the familiar pink X. She hadn’t realized that by working with sinners, and helping them through the goodness of her own heart, that Vaggie would also find redemption. She’d always just…thought the two of them would run the hotel together, forever. 

The familiar wave of tears threatened to spill down Charlie’s cheeks, and she reached up to rub at her eyes. A year. It had been a year since she’d last seen the two of them. And it still didn’t get easier to know that they weren’t around. They’d become quite the family in the hotel, all of them, and even though their proof that redemption was possible had indeed brought other patrons, the void left by the two of them had never quite been filled. 

“You zoned out again, my dear.”

Charlie felt her heart skip and she wheeled around, coming face to face with the ever present smile of the co-owner of her hotel.

“Al! You can’t just…sneak up on me, you know that!” Charlie berated. Still, she could already feel the corners of her lips tugged upwards into a smile. It was impossible not to, when his was always so full.

“On the contrary, my dear, I cleared my throat exactly three times before speaking and you still did not acknowledge my presence.” Alastor grinned, his brows raising as he watched her.

“Yeah, well…” Charlie could feel her cheeks balloon up indignantly before she deflated and laughed. “Sorry. I just checked on Fat Nuggets, so I guess I got a little…thoughtful.”

All at once, she noted the way his smile tightened, and there was a downward pull around the corners of his mouth.

“Ah… Of course.” Alastor nodded absently. “Well now, you know you can’t wander this establishment with a frown in place.” He reached and fixed her bow tie, patting away some lint. “You would get an earful if you were seen with such a miserable expression.”

“I know.” Charlie sighed, leaning back before reaching to rub her cheeks, trying to psyche herself up. “It’s just…y’know, the anniversary of their disappearance-“

“Redemption. It’s far easier to think of it that way.”

“You’re right, since their redemption. And…it’s hitting me a little harder than usual.”

Alastor nodded. His hand reached and gently cupped Charlie’s shoulder in a brief touch before returning to the top of his microphone, and she offered him a smaller and more sincere smile. 

“Perhaps focusing on your work will help you handle the feeling?” he offered. “Why, I could spend some time in the kitchen and make everyone a world class breakfast! It’s been some time since I’ve stepped upon Niffty’s turf. But everyone could use a little soul food sometime. And I promise, no actual souls will be harmed in the creation of breakfast.”

Charlie snorted before laughing a little. “Yeah, yeah. Alright Al, that sounds good to me. I think that would help.” She smiled and briefly placed her hand on his elbow before turning to head down the hall. Just…focus on work. Redemption had worked, and she had other patrons relying on her now. She just had to…focus.

***

Alastor watched the young princess disappear down the hall before he turned and made his way back to his room. He could feel the shadows growing around him, threatening the lights and speakers of the hotel. He’d managed to block from his mind the date. Leave it to dear old Charlie to bring it back to the forefront, and now it was all he could focus on.

He closed the door behind him and exhaled, letting his eyes wander over the room; a room often spent full of warmth and music. The radio that sat on his desk hadn’t been turned on in a year, and he reached a hand over to watch the power flip itself on. The same song, the last song he’d listened to, began to softly fill the room. 

Will you remember? Will you remember?

The song swelled as Alastor moved to sit on the edge of his bed, his eyes heavy-lidded as he watched the radio. He hadn’t even realized the way his ears dipped a little downward as he allowed the music to wash over him. As his mind wandered, so too did his shadows; soon, in the dim light of the morning, they began to form along the walls of his room. His shadow, evident by the antlers, and a taller shadow. One with four arms, dressed in a lovely evening gown with his hair done up beautifully in a far more stylish 1920s look.

Alastor put his hands on his microphone, feeling his claws tense a little as he watched. Emotions weren’t a familiar experience for him, but the music began plucking at the strings of his heart, giving him a hollow ache in his chest. 

His ears tilted down further and he dropped his gaze, tearing them from the shadows in favor of watching his feet. But it didn’t help, because he could still see where the shadows connected to him, all pointed to his own feet. Extensions of himself, because that’s all that was left over; the shadows of memories spent in his room, listening to music from a bygone year, appreciating the art in ways that no other patron or employee could.

Alastor rested his forehead against the top of his microphone, staring at the feet of the flickering shadows that had now circled him fully. All along his walls, his final waltz with Angel Dust continued to play out. They had finally spoken in depth, had after a year of confusion finally found even grounds that had resulted in comradery that Alastor had never allowed anyone else to develop; they were friends. More than friends, from the shy kisses to the gentle touches to the uncertain night together in bed, they were…more. 

The music continued, but the lyrics were muddled in his mind. He closed his eyes and worked to control his emotions; slowing the branching growth of his antlers, pulling the shadows away from the lights and electricity, and struggling to get the static echoing in his ears under control. 

It took a while, but eventually the static had ceased. He realized that the song had ended, that the radio was simply playing back the static in his head at him. Alastor’s eyes opened again and he looked up at the wall, watching the two figures. Only two now, and the tall shadow leaned down to kiss the lips of the shorter shadow.

All at once, the lights shattered, and the radio static grew deafening before silence enveloped the room, choking out all sound. The darkness and silence was oppressive, but the glow of Alastor’s eyes was enough to still display the shadows against the wall, locked in an embrace. He didn’t notice his claws biting into the front of his shirt until he felt a drop run down his chest, and he realized that in an effort to cease the painful constricting of his heart, his claws had automatically moved to tear it out.

Alastor steadied himself. With the music over, he dispelled the shadows and stood, snapping his fingers to fix his outfit. The advice he’d given to Charlie was sound; focus on the duties of the hotel, and someday this would get easier. It was the only hope he had to hold onto, for this type of pain was an unfamiliar one to Alastor. He had no idea how to process it properly. Life would be far simpler if he truly could claw out his own heart, so he could return to the blissful ignorance of his previous existence.

As he stepped outside of the door, he crossed paths with Niffty, who watched him curiously.

“I heard glass shatter so I came to clean up?” she offered, holding her feather duster up.

“Of course, my dear. Thank you.” Alastor stepped out of his room, gesturing for her to hop in and clean up the mess his meltdown caused. His gaze lingered on the radio before he turned and made his way down to the kitchen, his smile only a little tighter than before. 

As he passed by the window, his eye caught the large clock tower in the distance, and the characters around its face.

*Next Cleanse*  
005  
\--Days--


	3. The Gray Rainbow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Apologies for the late upload, my parents are visiting today and I was out the entire time. I'm very tired, but I managed to get this going. This will be the last chapter for setting up the characters in this world; next chapter, the story starts getting going. And trust me when I say: 
> 
> I'm sorry in advanced.
> 
> Now, ON with the story!

The smell of smoke hung heavy in the air, and the dark buildings of Pentagram City reflected the various colors that swirled together into a cloud that rose above the destruction. Another series of explosions added even more color, ensuring that a rainbow of smog filled the area. Buildings, streets, lights, everything had been broken down or reduced to rubble. It was always exciting to watch, but today it was more...gray? Though the colors were there, it lacked the sparkle and charm of her normal explosions.

Cherri tossed another bomb into a large group of the eggs, watching yolk and shells splatter across the street. But her smile didn’t quit reach the corners of her face like it normally would. Really, blowing up egg minions and causing untold property damage never really got old! It was just…today.

“Is that all you’ve got, missy?” The hissing sneer of the other demon carried over to her, and her eye shifted over to find him. Both he and his hat were smirking down from the top of one of the buildings, and his hood was fully flared out. All of his many eyes were glowing in the shadow of his mighty ship. “If you don’t try harder, I’m finally going to claim some of your territory!”

Cherri tried to maintain her smirk but it slipped a little. They’d done this song and dance before; Sir Pentious would invade her territory, she would invade his. The outcome was fairly even between who won and who lost, though recently Sir Pentious had developed a bond to another demon, and being double teamed like that definitely didn’t help. Especially not since her best friend left without saying a fucking word…

Thinking about that, and remembering what day it was, Cherri let the bomb she had lit explode off to the side, and she held her hands up. 

“Sorry, Pent. I’m not…feelin’ up to it today.”

They’d always been at odds, but admitting such a thing had caught Pentious off guard. He just sort of…froze before his brows furrowed, and he slithered down from his perch to settle in the streets.

“…you’re giving in? You never give in!”

“Yeah, well, this fucking day ain’t the time for a turf war anyway. So just…ugh, I’ll take this section back tomorrow, kay?” Cherri shoved her hands into her pockets and turned her back. A demon showing their back was just an open invitation to be killed. But right now? Cherri really could care less.

Pentious watched her for a moment before he snapped his fingers, and one of his egg boys aimed the gun at her. Black tendrils shot out, wrapping around her limbs and dragging her back.

“We are not yet done today,” Pentious stated, folding his arms. “You cannot simply waltz away from a challenge. You aren’t as well versed and experienced as I am, but those are the rules.”

“Look, normally I’d be all for your weird bondage machine you probably use with your boyfriend, but today ain’t good for it, Pent,” Cherri growled out, tugging at the restraints but not putting a lot of effort into it. And her face…she looked down trodden. Her heart just wasn’t into the usual carnage that came about.

“Well, this will simply not do. Come along.” Pentious turned, sliding his way over to where the ship was docked. And Cherri was brought along, with no choice considering her restrained limbs.

“If this is some fuckin’ attempt at killing or fucking me, you got another thing comin’,” Cherri bit out, but she still just let her body slump a little. Who the fuck cared anyway…?

“We cannot have you so upset looking. Our battles are legendary! How shall we maintain our territorial disputes with you being so under the weather?” Pentious clicked his tongue as they boarded his flying machine, and he led her into a room that honestly looked more like a normal living room than a machine of death.

Sitting on the couch, a newspaper spread out in two hands while a coffee mug was held in a third, was the demon Cherri really didn’t want to see right now. Though his fur was a different color, the familial ties were obvious enough that it pressed the stabbing pain that much closer to her heart.

“Pent, fuck _off_ , I just wanna’ go home and get a damn drink!”

“Shut it, lady.” The serpent had his egg set her down on the arm chair, the shadow restraints recoiling back to the gun. “You are not doing well this day, so you are going to sit there and enjoy a proper cup of tea.”

“I’ll fuckin’ tea bag you when I blow your stupid toy out of the sky again.”

“That is hardly appropriate language for someone attempting to improve your spirits!”

“Yeah, well, spirits’ll help me more than your boiled leaf water!”

“Shut the fuck up!”

The two were nearly touching the front of their faces as they argued, but they both froze and glanced over at the other demon. Cherri was small, but the black spider that was watching her through eight eyes was just a bit smaller than her, which stood out compared to his brother… He set the paper down and folded his upper pair of arms, his eyes narrowing. 

“Yer fuckin’ miserable today, Cherri. And that ain’t fun for any of us. You can act tough all ya’ want but right now, yer gonna’ sit there and yer gonna’ let Pent whip you up somethin’ that ain’t full of drugs or alcohol, alright?”

Cherri was bristling, her hair standing on end and making her almost look bigger, before she deflated some. Her shoulders hiked up and she glared at the floor, clenching her fists in her lap.

“I don’t need your fuckin’ charity, Niss…”

“It ain’t charity. You should be grateful it’s Pent steppin’ on yer territory today and not some other demon. The fact you turned yer fuckin’ back on him shows yer not even thinkin’ straight.” Arackniss sighed and shook his head. He set his cup down before standing up. “…I know what the fuck day it is.”

All at once, Cherri tensed up again, and her claws bit into her knees. Her eye narrowed sharply at the spider in front of her, and she wanted nothing more than to just reach back and pull out one of her strongest bombs. The fucker was reading her like an open book, and they weren’t even close. Sure Pentious had sometimes invited her to have tea after a particularly brutal turf war, or they sometimes ended up in the same coffee shop that she and her best friend had gone to all the time back before the fucker Vanished.

She hadn’t realized that her eye was watering a little until Arackniss crouched in front of her, waving a hand to try and get her attention. How long had she just…zoned out?

“Hey…c’mon, look. You don’t like me and you don’t like Pent. I get it.” He looked up at the snake, who nodded and slid off to start the tea. “Normally, invitin’ the enemy onto the ship is grounds for havin’ it blown up. But…you don’t gotta’ be alone around this time, alright? I fuckin’ miss him, too.”

“Don’t…” Cherri frowned, closing her eye and exhaling. “…look, I’m sorry I ain’t fun right now, okay? Believe me, I’d love to break a bunch of yer egg freaks and beat yer boyfriend to a pulp. And fightin’ you is a damn fun thing. I just…” She ran a hand through her hair before groaning. “Fuckin’ weak, this is pathetic.”

“Nah.” Arackniss shook his head, standing up again and grabbing his cup. “Even if we’re demonic fuckups, we were human at one point. And humans got this annoying feelin’ of “love” and “companionship.” You and Angel were best friends, and he was my brother. That’s reason enough to feel like shit that he’s gone.” He settled back on the couch, lounging back. “So how about two people relatively close to that whore get together and mourn him?”

Cherri opened her mouth but was interrupted by Pentious holding the cup of tea out to her, and he offered a fanged grin.

“We can return to our regularly scheduled turf war tomorrow, missy. I’m more than happy to call this a draw for the time being. It would not be classy to constrict a woman while she’s down.” And even though they had been rivals since she arrived in hell, it was hard to stay mad at that genuine smile on his face.

Cherri scoffed a little before sighing, taking the cup and nodding. Pentious tried to be a total badass, and he wanted to be an Overlord. But there were plenty of times where she’d been roughed up and he’d actually offered to patch her up, serving her the same tea. He was stupidly cute, not that she would ever admit that of her rival.

“Thanks, I guess.” 

Pentious settled down next to the spider, his tail absently curling around one of Arackniss’ legs. His own cup was ever so carefully lifted to his mouth, his large fangs making it hard to take a careful sip. The whole image was just ridiculously silly.

“Y’think he’s causing a mess in heaven?” Arackniss finally spoke up, his gaze on the newspaper in front of him but it was clear he wasn’t really reading the words laid out on the page. “Bet he’s fucked a few angels by now.”

“A few? Ya’ don’t give him enough credit, Niss.” Cherri leaned back, finally starting to relax a little. It was hard not to enjoy spending time with the closest person to Angel left in this barren hell-scape. Arackniss wasn’t Angel, but his demeanor was almost there. “It’s been a year, he’s definitely started a brothel and made them question how he made it in the first place.”

“Wonder if he’ll ever deep throat whatever counts as god up there,” Arackniss countered, smirking a little.

“If he hasn’t already, then he’s failing to after-live up to his potential.”

Pentious was clearly just allowing the two of them to go at it. Such language was beneath him, and Cherri just smirked a little more at the uncomfortable shifting. 

“What do ya’ think, Pent? Takin’ any bets?”

“Ah…I am certain that he…has blown upon many of the holy phalluses of heaven?” he offered meekly, his hood pinning back.

Arackniss and Cherri both stared at him for a while before the former smirked a little and the latter started laughing, a lot of the tension in her shoulders finally starting to ease out. And the smile that she had on her face was starting to look a lot more real.

“Close, Pent. Yer getting’ there,” Cherri mused. “A few more years around Niss and you’ll be spittin’ out foul language.”

“Why, I would never. I would hope in a few years, dear Arackniss will learn a bit better how to properly construct a sentence.” Pentious huffed, lifting his head up.

“Ain’t gonna’ happen, doll. But keep hopin’.” Arackniss chuckled.

It was nice? Cherri relaxed in the chair, sipping at the tea and laughing at Pentious’ awkwardness. It wasn’t quite as nice as spending time with Angel, but it was something to fill the gaping void left by his absence. Arackniss was pretty fun, too. By tomorrow, they could be back to their warring. But for now…this was nice?

As the day wore on, Cherri finally stood and stretched. 

“Thanks…y’know, for this.”

“Hey.” Pentious paused before tilting his head. “Are you going to be safe? I know you’ve survived many cleanses before, but if you need somewhere to be… Your neighborhood was hit hard last year, was it not?”

Cherri blinked, tilting her head to the side as she eyed him. “…this some kind of trap?”  
“If he wanted to fuck with you, we woulda’ already,” Arackniss snorted.

“This is simply a gesture of kindness.” Pentious stated. “After all, last I saw your apartment building is missing its roof after your mourning session.”

Cherri burned and she sighed. “Yeah, still gotta’ pay for that…” She rubbed the back of her head. “…fuckit, fine. We’ll extend our truce until after the purge. Then we go back to normal. Deal?”

“Deal.” Pentious beamed happily. “Allow me to prepare a room for you aboard my marvelous machine. And perhaps you will be able to appreciate it more after this.”

“Keep dreamin’, edgelord.” Cherri rolled her eye, but she couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. Her eye shifted out the window, and she saw the clock tower in the distance. Though the text was too small to read, she saw the number in the center. And she knew what the damn thing said anyway.

*Next Cleanse*  
003  
\--Days--


	4. Day Zero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After three chapters of set up, we're into the meat of the story! What happens when our ascended heroes return to Hell during a special time of the year?

The next cleanse was upon them. And shoulder to shoulder, the warriors of Heaven stood before the pearly white gates that were closed throughout the rest of the year save for a single day. And on that day, they creaked open, revealing the yawning maw of Hell that awaited on the other side. 

At the front of her squadron, Vagatha kept her gaze forward. Though this was her first cleanse, she had shown remarkable skill with a spear in training. It came naturally to her, and she had an exceptionally strong protective nature that put her ahead of many others. There was a lot of trust riding on her small shoulders, and she was going to prove her worth in such a wonderful place. 

Her squadron was made up of a good number of angels, totaling six with her, all of them wearing that same, pensive smile that every angel wore. They were the largest group because they had the most dangerous target: the center of the pentagram, where some of the strongest demons lurked. And though she wasn’t fully leading it, she was essentially the guardian. Someone that would ensure they all made it back to Heaven, unharmed. 

To her right, which was of course easier to see, Vagatha made note of Anthony standing with his group of two. They were being sent to the Lust district, to weed out the den of truly deplorable sinners there. They simply had to avoid the Overlord and they would be fine. Anthony was strong; the two of them had formed a sort of kinship as they both arrived in heaven at relatively the same time. There was a familiarity about him, but that no longer mattered in Heaven. They were both adept warriors, which meant they got along quite well. 

His gaze caught hers, and his smile widened as he inclined his head. They would both be fine.

On her other side, Anthony’s other companion was standing at the front of her squadron. Molly had been there for a few cleanses, which put her higher up in the ranks. She was a truly awe-inspiring being of power, one that could take many sinners down by herself. Of course, they had provided her with a squad of four to strike at the Pride district. The Overlords there were constantly at odds, too proud of their own prowess to fully claim a victor. Which worked for them as it was always war torn. 

The archangel leading this year’s cleanse cleared his throat, and every angel stood at attention. It was a uniform movement; everything was perfectly calculated and planned. They were a well-oiled machine, after all; not a single component out of line.

“Today is a day of reckoning! Today, we fulfill our duty to the heavenly Lord. Today, we smite those unworthy to walk these hallowed grounds, and we purify the fiery pits of damnation. Rejoice, brothers and sisters, for we are the world’s curators. And the wicked must be purged by steel.”

The gates shuddered before they slowly opened behind him, revealing the twisting and flickering image of Hell awaiting them. In proper formation, the various colored wings of the angels opened fully, and the sound of feathered wings flapping filled the air as they took to the sky. 

Vagatha stayed close to her group, flying in a V formation that would allow each other to watch their backs. She took up the second from the front, following after the leader who was far more experienced than she.  
The heat that crashed into them once they were through the gate was staggering. In Heaven, there was no hot or cold, only a gentle breeze that ensured everything was tranquil and even tempered. But in Hell, it was blistering. Her face was already beginning to turn red as it blasted her descent, and she could feel sweat begin to run down her back. Even the wind from the velocity of her flight wasn’t helping, and in fact only pushed more of the heat into her. It was almost a challenge to maintain the ever blissful smile on her face, but all she had to do was remember the room awaiting her return for it to settle back. Comfort and luxury awaited her in the peaceful, golden white halls. 

Each squadron of angels peeled off from the main force as they arrived. Vagatha watched Anthony and Molly split off in opposite directions, and she softly bid them luck on their hunt. But then her focused was brought back to her own group as they angled themselves pointedly forward, flying low above the roofs of the various buildings. Central wasn’t very far away, and soon the buildings grew to skyscrapers that towered over them, and they knew they had arrived.

Below them, crawling like the insects that they were, her good eye could make out the denizens of Hell. They came in all shapes and sizes, much like angels could, but they wore wildly different outfits. While every angel wore the exact same set of white robes lined with gold, cuffed sleeves stopping at their elbows, and bottom of the gown brushing the tops of their knees which were covered in very simple, white pants, demons wore everything from suits to ripped shirts and jeans. Rather than the soft whites and pastels of the angels, their colors were harsh and vibrant. And they were currently scurrying over each other in an attempt to get off of the streets, those who seemingly forgot the day or who had been too slow to act.

Vagatha followed up the leader of her squadron, and her spear impaled the first creature she ran into. Its eyes bulged from its sockets before rolling back, and its body splintered into limbs and parts as the light erupted from the tip of the spear, piercing not only flesh but the demon’s very soul.

These lesser beasts did nothing to fight back against her group of six. They kept together, wing tip to wing tip, never exposing their backs, and slaughtered the group that had been caught out on the street. Once their bodies were in pieces, various parts of them burned from the light of their spears, they took to the sky again and continued their search.

The fight was exhilarating, and for the first time since arriving in Heaven, Vagatha felt a strange stirring inside of her. Something that rather enjoyed the bloodshed, but that wasn’t something an angel was meant to feel. She quickly forced it down, her eye narrowing as she found another group of demons. These were fleeing, and they were moments away from slipping into a strange building that was more decorated than the rest of those in the city. The six of them paused, hovering in front of the colorfully flashing sign at the top: _Hazbin Hotel_. What a strange name…

“The vile beasts disappeared within this structure. Surely this must be a nest for them,” the squadron leader called over to them. Vagatha struggled to maintain formation, her eye following the sign until they landed on the sidewalk outside, and she almost ran into the leader. “Vagatha, center yourself.”

“Apologies.” She closed her eye and exhaled before smiling. “It will not happen again.”

“See to it that it does not.” The leader nodded before turning forward. The spear impaled the front door of the hotel, tearing it from its hinges. And the action was greeted by a large ball of fire with what appeared to be musical notes orbiting the center. It exploded in the face of the leader, causing them to fall back with in surprise.

Vagatha gripped her spear, leaping forward with her wings flared out, deflecting the next ball of flames. This magic was stronger than what normal demons would have… Her brows furrowed and her eye narrowed as the caster stepped forward. But no sooner did she see the shoes of the demon that the squad behind her let out a strangled gasp of breath, and she wheeled around.

Two of the angels were dead. How it happened so quickly, Vagatha couldn’t even begin to guess. But their bodies were suspended off of the ground with shadows piercing their chests. Not only had their organs been targeted, but the shadows had run quickly through their veins, causing them to convulse despite having already been killed. Angels were built more durably, so to think that something in the hotel could have done this so quickly…

“Vagatha, focus!” The leader shouted, another fireball bouncing off of the spear in their hands, and Vagatha turned around. She came face to face with two demons, and her hair stood on end when she saw them. They both radiated power, power beyond what she had expected, and she took a step back.

The shorter of the two, wearing a red suit with black pants, stared at her for a few moments before her eyes widened. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before her voice slipped out weakly.

“Vaggie…?”

There was something familiar about the way it was said, but that wasn’t her name. Shorter names weren’t common in heaven. This creature was attempting to appeal to a part of her that didn’t exist. Her features relaxed again and she pointed her spear forward. 

“Look upon the face of your reckoning, demons. Though your bodies may burn, your souls shall be purified before facing their eternal slumber.” 

The female demon was just staring, unable to tear her gaze away, but the man besides her stepped forward. He was smiling as well, much like the angels did, but his teeth were yellowed and sharp, and the twitch of his smirk promised agony instead of peace.

“I’m afraid our hotel is booked. Please check back with us in a few weeks, perhaps we can fit you.” His voice was grating; it sounded as if it was coming from an ancient speaker, and Vagatha almost twitched a little at how she was addressed. 

Behind her, the shadows that had impaled the two angels flung the corpses, which had been reduced to shriveled husks with blackened veins, aside. More reared from the streets, and soon her squad were in combat with them. And the man that had conjured them didn’t move…

“Vaggie-“ The female demon tried again, but was shoved back by the other when the spear impaled the ground in front of her.

“Vagatha! Cease your discussion. Take up arms against the foul beasts and deliver them to their eternal rest!” The squad leader leapt in, grabbing the spear and taking the fight to the male demon, leaving Vagatha to face the female.

Her eye studied the expression on the blonde’s face before she adjusted her hold on her spear. This should be fairly simple as the demon didn’t seem interested in moving or fighting her.

“Surrender, and I will give you a mercifully swift end,” she stated simply, and charged forward without giving the demon the chance to respond.

The demon let out a yelp and stumbled back, a blast of musical fire deflecting the spear. She managed to catch herself before she fell over, and her hands glowed with the magic that she was able to conjure. Her panicked eyes landed on Vagatha’s single one, and she held her hands up.

“Vaggie, wait! It’s me! It’s Charlie!”

Vagatha didn’t give her another chance to talk, her spear fracturing the ground as she jabbed it forward again. She had managed to dodge out of the way, but was buffeted back when one of Vagatha’s wings slammed into her, making her hit the side of the hotel.

Talk wasn’t something angels did much of, and Vagatha was no different. She had said her peace, told the demon to surrender, and she hadn’t. That was reason enough for her to pursue. The spear impaled the wall, the demon barely rolling out of the way in time. Out of reflex, she held her hand up, and Vagatha was launched back by a powerful strike of the musical flame.

She hit the ground hard, her spear sliding away, and she stared at the sky for a few moments. The fire magic packed more punch than any magic she’d experienced in Heaven. 

“Vaggie, I’m so sorry!” The blonde swam into her view, and she struggled to focus. Why did the demon look so worried? And…why was she apologizing?

Behind her, the male demon was staving off the other three remaining angels of their group. The shadows seemed to follow every one of his commands, and his image almost seemed to be glitching as his smile grew. Symbols appeared in front of his forehead, and then soon gathered around him as the shadows began to take on more shapes than simply tendrils. 

Vagatha’s smile tensed as she turned back to the blonde, and she pushed herself up, her wing easily smacking the demon back. Her hand reached out, and the spear leapt back into it. She used the momentum to charge forward, the tip only barely being deflected by another blast of fire. Despite her unwillingness to actually fight, the demon was powerful…

“Vaggie, please!” The demon was begging, deflecting each thrust of the spear as desperately as she could. Her eyes never left Vagatha’s face, which worked for the angel as she managed to get a good hit in at long last. The tip of her spear nicked the demon’s arm, causing her to cry out and retaliate with another large blast of fire. This time, Vagatha was able to avoid it, but she stumbled back to watch as the more gentle image of the girl melted way, and her full demon form appeared.

She was no innocent creature; the horns protruded from her head, and her hair had become undone, turning into a flowing cape around her. Her eyes were a deep, blood red, and her fangs had grown to poke a little out of her mouth. The fire and musical notes swirled around her as she held her arm, eyes staring at Vagatha with an emotion the angel couldn’t quite place.

“Charlie, my dear, you must be careful.” The male demon called back to her, glancing away as his shadows slammed one of the angels into the earth, the sound of bones snapping filling the air. But they didn’t scream; angels never cried out. Their smiles were never shaken, even as their bodies broke.

“Al, it’s…it’s Vaggie! What can I do?!” the female demon whimpered, stumbling back when Vagatha once again resumed her assault. The magic was dangerous, this…creature wasn’t like any demon she had fought before. And her instincts were screaming at her to finish the fight. She had to help her squad, that other demon was somehow even more threatening than the one in front of her. Most likely because he wasn’t backing away and attempting to get the angels to listen to him.

Vagatha was soon using that to her advantage. Even as this demon continued to launch spells at her, attempting to call out a name she didn’t understand, Vagatha continued to push. And it was clear the demon was growing desperate, because she tried to reach out to her once again by catching her on her next spear thrust, dragging her into a firm hug.

“Vaggie…it’s me…” she whimpered into her ear, and Vagatha’s eye widened as the hold tightened around her. This was a…hug? The other girl was taller than her, especially as a full demon, but she was…hugging her? For a moment, her brows furrowed as she stared at the encircled pentagram in the sky, and something in her chest started to clench. The hug was familiar, something…buried deep in her memories. Sure, angels exchanged hugs often enough, but it was often times rigid. An exercise in the gesture because it was meant to be nice, but no emotion behind it. There wasn’t emotion in heaven, because for every good came bad. And yet this hug felt nice. Comforting. 

Her heart hammered hard in her chest as the smell of the demon’s hair wafted into her nose, the feel of her hands on her back, the comfort of her chest. The demon was soft against her, softer than any angel she had ever met, and it made something within her ache. Her smile twitched somewhat, and her eye almost down-turned to look at the woman holding her. 

“You do remember me…!” the demon gasped out softly, pulling back and smiling down at her. She was crying, those scarlet eyes leaking a copious amount of tears that spilled onto Vagatha. That smile was so warm, a warmth very different from the blistering heat that was Hell, and there was something about it that was almost familiar.

Crimson soon joined the clear tears that decorated her, and those scarlet eyes widened in surprise before traveling down. Vagatha’s hand was gripping the spear handle that now jut through the demon’s torso, the tip just visible poking through the blonde hair on the other side of her body. The shock turned into confusion and pain, and the tears of joy soon turned to tears of bitter sorrow.

“V…Va…Vaggie…?” Her voice came out choked, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth. Vagatha gripped the spear and light erupted throughout the demon’s body. Though it wasn’t as ceremonious as the previous demon, the blonde’s body crumbled to the ground, the shocked expression still on her face.

Vagatha didn’t have enough time to celebrate her victory over a strong opponent, however. The air around the area was soon full of radio static, the sound so loud that she had to drop the spear and cover her ears. It wasn’t just the noise; it felt as if there was a physical pressure pushing down on them. Her squadron behind her were on the ground as well, writhing in agony. Vagatha was sure there was blood leaking from her ears.

The male demon that had been there looked almost like he wasn’t fully there. His body was twitching, phasing in and out of shadow, and it was beginning to grow. His face was pointed towards where Vagatha was, though his body was still facing the other direction, and his smile and glowing red eyes took up his entire face. The face tilted to the side as he watched her, his arms elongating to twisted, gnarly claws. The coat he was wearing was shredded as his body bulked up, his back hunching as his legs twisted to those of a hooved beast. The fact his head was still facing her, even as his body grew to more of a hunched form, was deeply unsettling. His neck had to be twisted back incredibly unnaturally for his face to still be pointed directly at her. And even it began to elongate, the flesh melting away to expose a grinning skull. His eyes fell into blackened pits, and the antlers atop his head grew to staggering heights.

When the transformation was completed, a true demon stood between Vagatha and her squadron. The skull, hooves, and antlers indicated deer, but the rest of it was covered in red and black fur and when he turned to face her, an open rip cage with exposed organs was visible. Shadow tendrils curled throughout the inside of his body, and the horrific noise of his head reorienting itself to keep her in his sights made Vagatha’s blood run cold. She was suddenly very aware of the blonde demon’s body laying behind her.

The radio sound went silent, and despite the warring and cleansing going on around the rest of Hell, that silence was as heavy as a weighted blanket that draped over the area. Vagatha’s heart was beginning to race, and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the monstrosity. 

And then, it opened its mouth.

The sound was something between static, nails along a chalkboard, and the high pitched whining of a dog whistle just low octave enough to be heard. Vagatha curled up and slammed her hands over her ears, squeezing her eye shut. She was lucky, being further away; the sound mixed with the fully formed demonic copies of the beast made short work of the rest of her squadron. Tears stained her eye as she struggled to reach for her spear, but a heavy hoof shattered it in two. The last thing she saw, rolling onto her back and flaring her wings out, was the grinning deer skull peering down at her. The red of its eyes swam in her vision, and before long her body slumped, the blood leaking from her ears joining the pool that had formed from the blonde demon from before.


	5. Shattering the Wall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're all enjoying the story so far! This has been a pleasure to write, and we still have a long ways to go. Thank you all for the kind words, the kudos, and all of the hits; I wasn't sure how this story would go over when I originally started it.

Anthony’s squadron split off towards the south side of the city, though it still remained close to the central section. They were a small group of only three angels because they were to remain far from the Overlord of the area. It should be easy to know where he was, considering he never hid his presence, so their extermination would simply be the bars and brothels that lurked on the edge of the main tower.

As they rounded a building, all of their eyes landed on the giant spire in the center of the Lust district: in neon lights that stood out against the dark red sky, the words “Porn Studio” were on full display, along with a sexy demonic woman hanging off the side of it, grinning. The image along with the words was repulsive to the chaste angels, but they didn’t react to it. Their focus was to avoid it entirely, aiming instead for the buildings on the outskirts.

The first building went smoothly; the demons were either too high, too drunk, or too horny to actually react to the three angels bursting into the room. Anthony’s spear sang as it impaled one large demon, his pants around his ankles and his disgusting length at half-mast with a female demon rutting his knee. He took great pleasure in watching the light erupt from his body, splattering the stripper with his blood. She soon followed, scrambling desperately to try and get away. Something about that desperation for survival twisted Anthony’s chest, but his smile never faltered. It was almost fun to be covered in blood.

Once the studio was done, they moved to the next one. The brothel was flushed with blood and light, and the screams of demons filled the sky.

Anthony cackled as he stepped out, bouncing his spear on his shoulder. He swiped blood from the fur on his cheek, letting it spatter on the fancy car parked on the curb. 

“Hey, hurry up. We need to keep going,” he called over his shoulder. The three of them had been in the building together, slaughtering every demon they could find. But he hadn’t seen them for a few moments, and not since he stepped outside. His brow arched and he turned to face the door, cupping one of his hands over his mouth. “Hey!”

A form appeared in the doorway, shuffling its feet a little. The wings indicated it was one of his companions, but the way it walked...he adjusted his hold on the spear and leapt back, his wings flaring out, when the angel collapsed on the ground. Floating around his throat and his wrists was an unusual red mist, sort of shaped like a heart. Something about it sent a wave of frigid water rushing through Anthony’s veins, but he couldn’t quite explain why. 

“Uh…hey? Are you alright?” He moved over, crouching down. That blissful smile and peace he’d felt since arriving at Heaven shuddered a little when he noticed the angel was smiling, but it wasn’t peaceful. It looked almost delirious, and the pupils were blown incredibly wide. There was a strange powder rimming the nose, though Anthony couldn’t quite understand what that was.

Behind him, the fancy car that he’d spattered with blood opened, and his eyes beheld quite the figure. It easily towered over him, dressed in a gaudy red coat that included a ridiculous furry collar littered with red hearts. The demon had four arms, all of which were perfectly relaxed though one held a long pipe, the same red smoke spilling over from the end of it. Bright red eyes were hidden behind heart shaped pink, gold-rimmed glasses and the outfit was completed by a top hat of the same shade of red as the coat. 

A cruel, sharp smile twisted the demon’s expression, and he tapped his pipe lightly, spilling out more of the red smoke.

“ _Well_ now, this is quite the surprise,” he cooed, and his voice sent needles along Anthony’s wings. “How could I be so lucky? Angel, darlin’, you’ve finally returned to me.” His smile widened as he stepped forward, and Anthony instinctively stepped back. “Now now, you know not to piss me off, right? You ended your contract prematurely, and we can’t have that.”

Anthony didn’t realize how badly his chest had tightened. He didn’t know this creature, and yet this body seemed to. There was a burning sensation along certain parts of his skin that almost shook the pensive hum that filled his mind.

“I don’t know you, demon,” was his response that he finally managed to get out, and he adjusted the hold on his spear. His wings flared out, attempting to threaten the demon. But he only chuckled.

“That’s a shame. You were such a wonderful asset. And as you are now, those wings make you worth even more to me. My Angel has become an angel.” The demon took another step forward. To Anthony’s right, where the body of his company was, the door slammed open and a number of demons stepped out. They were all very large and very muscular, and between them his other companion was being held by the arms. And to his horror, at some point they had taken a blade to his companion’s wings, the stumps bleeding profusely.

“Angel wings. What strange items.” The other man continued, stalking over to the other two angels and crouching. One of his lower arms cupped the angel’s chin, tilting it up. “You’d think angels would be immune to sin, bein’ in Heaven and all. But the same vices knock them right down.” He chuckled before reaching into his coat and pulling out a knife. The angel on the ground was so out of it that he didn’t even react to the blade slicing seamlessly through the feathers, muscles, cartilage, and bone of his wings. 

Anthony felt his stomach roll, and his smile slipped off of his face as he pulled his wings back. To defile one’s wings was to truly reduce them to nothing. Wings didn’t just magically grow back. And this creature wanted to do that to _him_?!

“What are you gonna’ do with ‘em?” His voice was soft, having automatically shifted into something more submissive. As if, despite having ascended and becoming something more, there was something about this demon that screamed at him to be a good boy. That he wouldn’t get hurt if he did as he was told. But that didn’t make any sense, he didn’t know the demon?

“I’ve never corrupted real angels before.” The demon smiled as he finished cutting off the other wing, tossing the bleeding limbs to the demons accompanying him before standing up. He turned to fix Anthony with that smile. “They’re gonna’ replace those you already killed.”

“That’s…that’s disgusting!” Anthony felt his stomach churn worse, and he put distance between himself and the demon, only to realize that he was being surrounded by more of his henchmen.

“On the contrary, angel cakes. With enough drugs in their system, they’re gonna’ have the time of their afterlives.” He gestured with all four hands, blood still dripping from his knife. “But they aren’t the real prize. You are!”

Anthony was grabbed from behind and he wheeled around, impaling his attacker with the spear and splattering his blood all over the other demons behind him. His heart was racing and he was definitely panicking. He shouldn’t be, Heaven should have cured him of all of his imperfections! Fear and panic didn’t belong in a perfect world. But being this close to the tall demon, and hearing what he had to say, set off a flight response too powerful for him to ignore.

His wings flared open and he lifted off the ground, putting distance between himself and the bodyguards. His eyes darted to his companions before he was turning and attempting to flee. There was nothing he could do. Even if he saved them, they couldn’t return to Heaven without their wings. It was better that he find another squadron, tell them what happened, get back up-

All at once, it felt like the breath was squeezed from his throat. He hadn’t realized it, but the red smoke had gathered around the area, and reached up despite how high in the air he was. He stared as it circled around all four of his arms, acting like chains to tug at him, and the smoke wrapped around his throat was worse. He beat his wings, struggling to pull back, but the choking was making it difficult to focus. Despite the restraints, his upper pair of hands reached to claw at his throat, trying to pull the smoke away, leaving scratch marks in his skin and fur. 

And then, his wings were too heavy to hold him. He was slammed into the ground, the smoke rolling over him. The _magic_ smoke, he realized too late, was enveloping him. A shadow covered his body, and he was barely able to look up and see the twisted grin of the demon.

“We can’t have you escapin’, my darlin’ Angel,” he cooed, crouching down over him. His fingers lazily trace along Anthony’s cheek, and each touch left fire screaming through his body. Those claws were so gentle as they traced patterns through his hair and down his back before finally touching his wings.

The first fistful of feathers to be yanked out had Anthony twitching hard. He bit back the scream and he squeezed his eyes shut. The next fistful brought out a miserable keen.

“Without wings, you wouldn’t be able to fly. But that would reduce your value, too. All we need to do is reintroduce you to your favorite drug and you’ll be my singin’ canary,” the demon purred.

Anthony closed his eyes, finding himself retreating back to that wonderful room of white and gold he had woken up in a year ago. In his mind, he was actually there. The pain as more feathers were torn from his wings caused the room to heave. Red begin to tint the walls, and the smoke soon became a miasma that was choking him. He held his throat, stumbling around from room to room, but each door was locked. More of the smoke filled the tight enclosure, and it took him a moment to realize that the source was from the last door he had yet to try; the room of the items that should mean nothing to him.

Desperate for air, Anthony stumbled to the door and tried the handle. Locked. But rather than give up, he brought his extra pair of arms out. With six tugging and yanking on the door, it snapped from its hinges, and a torrential wave of red magic crashed down on top of him. He couldn’t breathe, and his eyes were watering as he peered inside.  
Sitting on the reliquary shelf was the glass moth, but the smoke was leaking from it out of every corner. Inside, the image of the demon tearing out his feathers was visible, swirling with other memories of the same demon. He knew him, and maybe he’d know what to do if he broke the object. 

Anthony stumbled forward, knocking over a few of the other items as he grabbed for the moth. The glass began to break in his tight, desperate hold, and the shards bit into his palm. But he focused, forcing himself to clench tighter. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t see, his lungs and eyes were burning with each breath as he forced himself to squeeze harder. More glass cut up his hand, and he brought up another to help force the pressure. It wasn’t enough to slam it on the ground, the smoke was curling up his body and reaching for it. He needed it to break!

The glass moth finally shattered in his hands, and the rush of memories forced the magic away from him. He gasped greedily at the air, eyes wide as the images flooded his mind. Valentino, his pimp, essentially his owner when he had been in Hell. Years of torture and torment beneath him, always high or drunk to get through the Johns and the films and the long hours the moth put him through. The feeling of disgust and hatred for himself and the actions he was forced to perform for the demon welled up inside of him. 

His knees and hands hit the ground, causing the glass to dig further into his palm. But the pain grounded him, and he was able to push his way from the room and return to reality.

Valentino had done a number on his wings, but he’d stopped moving and reacting, his eyes half closed. 

“Tch, done already? You’ve grown weak since you vanished.” Anthony could hear Valentino stand, and he turned to bark orders at the other demons there. He figured that the angel was done, that he had given up. Angel was always submissive, always the pathetic quitter that made Valentino so happy with him. He could be good for his daddy again, he could roll over and be lavished in praise for his beauty all over again. It would be so easy…

And yet, there were other memories that came from remembering Valentino. Better ones, ones that actually made him feel good. 

He was vaguely aware that his arms had been grabbed, and one of his eyes cracked open to see the door to the limo wide open just for him. Valentino was already seated inside, his smile and eyes glowing in the darkness of the cabin, and his magic still swirling around him. Anthony’s head was so heavy, as were his limbs. His wings felt like cinder blocks. But those memories…

The one that stood out the most, that he reached and grabbed onto, was one where his contract went up in flames in Valentino’s livid face. And the man that had burned it standing up to him. Red, the color red was all he could remember there, but he clung to it. The red was a deeper shade, closer to blood than the bright red of Valentino’s magic. It was calming, it reached out to him.

Right as his escort got to the open door, his wings flared out. The force was so great that it knocked the two demons holding him over. His eyes were wide and panicked as he looked around, flapping his wings harder. Despite the lack of feathers, he had managed to get himself into the air. And though he wasn’t by any means graceful, he put distance before Valentino could even react. Below, one of the demons was beheaded by the Overlord, and his furious words followed him into the sky as he fled.

All he could think about was that red color, and it carried him far out of the Lust district, to land at the top of a building somewhere else. He honestly didn’t know how far he’d gone or how long he’d been flying; all he did know was that his wings were screaming in pain as he’d shed more feathers along the way, and he honestly didn’t think he’d be able to fly for a while. He needed time to heal, but he was stranded in enemy territory. In Hell.

Laying on his back and staring up at the pentagram, another memory filtered into his mind. While the red man had been a source of comfort, his image was still blurred and obscured. But this one…

He was in what he assumed to be his bed. His hips and core ached, and his lower set of arms was wrapped firmly around his torso in an effort to stem the pain. His other arms were held close to his side, and tears poured down his face. Besides him, a woman’s face swam into his vision. Or well, he assumed she was a woman by the breasts, because her head was mostly just one single, giant eye. But it was tilted down, and despite that look, he could tell she was concerned for him. And he reached out, flailing for her. The pain in his core at the memory, and the agony of his wings and lungs in the present, all mingled into one driving desire to find this demon, this…creature who helped him feel so much better.

Anthony spent a while coming down from his pain and fear on top of that tower. Two emotions that angels shouldn’t ever feel. He didn’t want to think about what that meant; all he wanted at that moment was to find that one eyed woman. Perhaps she would then lead him to the red man. It was the only thing he could focus on, because the cleansing was not on his mind. Something about it and the way he was supposed to act as an angel was starting to make him feel unnerved. And that conflicted with his belief that Heaven was supposed to be a good thing. 

When the pain finally began to subside, Anthony pushed himself up. He looked around the city from his perch, watching the Lust district for some time before turning to jump off the roof, using his wings despite the pain to glide to the ground. A poor, homeless demon was the unlucky recipient of a spare spear that he’d brought out with his third pair of arms, and he took the cloak, using it to hide his wings. The hood did a good job covering his hair, too. He took a deep breath, peering out onto the mostly empty street of the city, and he started walking. His feet seemed to know better where to go than his mind, so he trusted them to lead the way. The sound of the cleansing continuing was loud above him, but he didn’t want any attention drawn to him. So every time an angel passed over head, he ducked into an alley. 

His mind was focused on two things, and he was determined to find his answers.


	6. A Look into the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, you guys have been super supportive with this series! Hopefully you're enjoying it as much as I am writing it. ^^ And apologies for errors, I try to catch as many as I can but many still slip through.

The dirigible gave another tremor as the angels struck out again, and Arackniss grit his teeth as his legs scrambled to find purchase. A hand grabbed for one of the pipes, and two of his lower hands pulled out pistols. They had expected to be left alone with Pentious’ patented stealth technology; of course, that had involved painting the outside the same color as the clouds, which didn’t help the sheer amount of weaponry and lights that existed on it. 

For as brilliant as he was, stealth was not his strong suit.

Another explosion blasted a few eggs in his direction, and he did his best to adjust himself. Cherri was doing a lot of damage to the ship, but that hopefully meant she was staving off the attacks down below. 

Thankfully being a spider demon meant that, when he needed to, he could cling to a surface with the hairs on his fingers and legs. It wasn’t as easy with a ship that was trembling from constant attacks, but at the very least he could climb up towards the main cabin of the ship. 

Behind him, one of the windows shattered inward, and Arackniss had only a few moments to see the flaring of wings before the spear jabbed him in one of his arms. He hissed out before flipping around, clinging to the wall with two hands while two more leveled his pistols, and he fired into the angel’s feathery wings. It shrieked at the pain and fell back from the spear, plummeting down towards the fire that had started at the base of the aircraft. He watched those feathers catch quickly before grunting, pulling the spear out and holding his injured arm.

“Fucker,” he spat, turning to continue scaling up towards the cabin. 

When he finally reached the top, there was just chaos. Egg boys were running all over, screaming and trying to figure out what to focus on to save the ship from crashing. Not that any of them had the mental capacity to do much beyond following orders. Useless things… He made a face when a few noticed his injuries and quickly ran over for the medical supplies.

“Pent! What the hell are we gonna’ do?!” he barked, turning his gaze over to the controls.

Pentious grit his fangs as he fought the bowing of the ship, attempting to keep it from slamming into the nearest building. His tail was coiled firmly around the railing in front, and his eyes were bouncing all over the readings.

“We are in quite the predicament.” He shook his head, his hood flaring out when another explosion sounded below deck. “At this rate, we are going to crash into any one of these buildings we’re currently hurdling past. I can’t keep this under control!”

Arackniss grit his teeth before he stumbled over, his arm having been bandaged by the group of panicking eggs. He looked over at the readings, and he cursed under his breath.

“I’m gonna’ go take the fight to those feathery fuckers,” he growled out, pulling out another two guns. He still needed two to climb, leaving him with four weapons at his disposal. “Try yer best to dodge what you can. And try not to crush me into a building.”

“I can promise exactly nothing!” Pentious hissed out. “Do you need to take any of the minions? They are hardly helpful panicking around the cabin here! And these flying chickens are making swift work of our transportation.”

“They’ll only hold me back. Can’t exactly carry a buncha’ eggs on my back.” Arackniss shook his head, turning to look over the eggs gathered around them. “All of ya’, go see if Cherri needs any help down below. But try not to get blown up by her.”

He put a hand on Pentious arm before jumping towards the giant glass window at the front of the aircraft, climbing up and through one of the cracks, doing his best to avoid the sharp glass that could easily cut him. The wind outside of the craft battered him, but his body was close enough to the machine for him to be able to carefully move up to the top, narrowly avoiding debris knocked over when a section of the craft slammed into the building. 

Once he managed to get to the top of the ship, the spider demon stopped and looked around. There were three angels hovering around the craft; two were driving their spears into the complex machinery, doing insurmountable damage with the magic that empowered them to be able to kill sinners. The third was a little further up, seemingly watching over the others. Her wings were pure white, and he noted that she had four legs, which stood out compared to the other two angels. And four arms. But that was all he could see in the rushing wind.

At the back of the ship, an explosion broke open the hull, and another form leapt up from the fire. One of the angels turned in time to get a heel shoved into their face, the explosion having launched the small form of Cherri Bomb forward at them. They fell back into the ship, a combination of fiery hair and flapping wings.

The other angel noticed Arackniss, and they turned to charge him down with his spear. He leveled his guns and fired a few shots, catching them in the wing and causing them to cry out as they fumbled past him, driving their spear into the side of the machine to stop their plummet. They pulled themselves up and drove their feet firmly into the top of the dirigible, brandishing the spear before charging him.

Arackniss deftly rolled off to the side, his smaller stature giving him an edge in avoiding the dangerous spear. He had no interest in being impaled on one, and he played safe to ensure that didn’t happen. He rolled again and used the angel’s momentum to kick their legs out from under them, firing point blank into their abdomen before leaping back, sliding a little due to the wind that howled against the side of his head.

The angel hissed and put a hand over the injury, though their face still maintained that eerie smile, and they charged at him again, this time managing to leave a nice mark along his arm, but Arackniss shrugged it off and scrambled away, keeping distance between them. The way he was deftly moving around the angel, knocking them over and getting a few pot shots in, was beginning to frustrate even a seemingly pensive and calm angel. And the angrier they got, the sloppier their movements. And as the large structure careened into a building, the angel flared their wings open.

Another reason Arackniss was happy to be small: the wind pressure slammed into the angel’s flared wings, catching them by surprise as they were ripped off of the dirigible with a combination of the wind pressure and the lurching of the machine. Arackniss slid down the front of the structure, bringing all four guns up now that he had a great angle of the angel, and fired all rounds of his guns into both the body and wings.  
He caught himself on the glass at the front of the dirigible, watching the angel plummet to the ground. Behind him, he could just barely hear Pentious cheering out before frantically calling his name. It was the only warning he got before a spear slammed into the glass just centimeters from his body, and he scrambled over to the metal portion of the ship, eyes coming up. And all eight of them widened.

The head angel had joined the fray, and she pulled back her spear only to try and jab at him again, and she managed to catch his coat because he couldn’t rip his gaze away from her face. Though it was a little different, she looked almost identical to Angel…

“What the fuck?” he voiced, trying to put distance between them as she continued to attack.

“Don’t make this harder on yourself, darling,” she chirped pleasantly, and all at once his brain went numb. She was still talking, but he could only process that voice. That voice he hadn’t heard since they were alive, decades and decades ago. A voice that had always been chipper and upbeat, hell even now it was. One that always made him smile, even when he was being a real grump. 

Glass shattered beneath him, and that was enough for him to realize that his body had continued to dodge the hits, but that he’d ended up on the glass of the front again. And her body had slammed into his, forcing him through and back into the main part of the ship. He hit the ground hard and his vision blacked out for a moment when his head bounced off of metal. 

The wind was screaming outside, and his head was ringing from the hit. There was more shouting, he didn’t know who it was, and there were alarms blaring around them. But it was still her face that he focused on, the only thing that wasn’t hazy and muddled and impossible to see. Her ever smiling face as she raised her spear.

“Molly…?” he croaked out before pain filled his body, the spear impaling his abdomen. All eight eyes blew open and he arched hard, a scream ripping itself out of his throat.

***

There were so many alarms going on that Pentious wasn’t even sure if anything in the dirigible WASN’T broken at this point. His arms trembled as he pulled hard at the controls, forcing it to avoid yet another building. They were losing altitude quickly, and the threat of being impaled on one of the buildings below was becoming quite the real risk. This was not at all going well for them.

He heard a scream and turned his gaze up to the window, watching an angel plummet past with blood splattering all over the glass. And Arackniss slid to a stop halfway down, holding himself up with two of his hands. Part of Pentious was able to relax, seeing that his boyfriend was alright, and he whooped and hollered proudly. He had been so worried when the spider had crawled his way outside, and he had no idea what he’d do if the spider was at risk. 

His eyes widened when he saw a flash of white outside, and he shouted to try and get Arackniss’ attention. Another angel had charged at him, and the two vanished from sight for a few moments as they fought along the metal part of his craft. He leaned to try and get them into view only to stop himself when he accidentally caused the dirigible to lean as well. Blasted, infernal machine! 

The glass shattered, and his eyes widened when he saw the small, black form beneath the much larger white form hitting the ground in front of his console. The angel’s wings were massive, flared out behind her in a dramatic form. His gaze caught the glint of a spear, and he was up and moving before he even realized it, his huge body sliding along the floor as he rushed towards the scene. The whole dirigible lurched once he was no longer at the controls, but he didn’t notice.

The scream shattered all of his sense of reason. Metal had sunk into flesh, and Arackniss was struggling to push the spear back, grinding his fangs together. Pentious could see the light begin to glow, and his heart clenched hard. He was panicking, and scared, and he wasn’t going to lose his boyfriend! His sail was flared and he was hissing furiously as he flung himself forward, and his fangs sunk into angelic flesh.

She sucked in a harsh breath and reared back as his fangs buried deep into her arm, releasing the spear before the magic could continue. And he was firmly latched onto her, his fangs pumping venom into her system. He had no idea if it could kill an angel, but that was the last thing on his mind.

With no one at the controls, the machine slammed into a building, causing a large hole to be busted into the hull. A girder was broken loose above them, and Pentious pulled his fangs back and scooped Arackniss up, spear and all, to move them out of the way. The angel stumbled back, holding her arm and eyeing him. Despite the pain she was in, that smile never vanished…

“You shouldn’t struggle so hard, this is for the best.” Her voice was almost monotonous, and it sent a chill down Pentious spine as he carefully set Arackniss down. It was best to leave the spear in him for now…

“Unfortunately for you, I rather like my afterlife,” he cracked back, his sail flaring out. He twitched, watching the angel closely before he was striking out again. Though she was strong, her movements were already rather sluggish from the venom, something he definitely recognized. And he took that opportunity to knock her legs out from beneath her, his heavy body slamming down on top before he coiled around her, hissing.

The angel struggled against the restraints, and one of her hands reached out. Another spear appeared in the flashing alarm lights of the room, and Pentious pinned her down to the ground. Venom dripped from his fangs as he bore down on her. 

“Pentious…” The voice was the only thing that stopped him from digging his fangs into her throat. He turned his head, still struggling to hold the spear away from his vital organs, and he saw Arackniss trying to push himself up. “Don’t…”

Pentious hissed out and turned, ripping the spear from her hand and squeezing harder around her. She was struggling, smacking at his coils, and her smile was finally starting to waver. His instincts were so focused on the kill, he didn’t even notice a new presence entering the room. And it was only the sound of a lit fuse that had him breaking free from his killing instinct, and he uncoiled from the angel to drape his body over Arackniss when the bomb exploded.

The force of it caused the glass to shatter, and a second girder from the top of the dirigible was knocked loose by the sudden lurch. Pentious had enough time to slide out of the way with Arackniss, his furious gaze seeking out the source of the bomb.

“CHERRI, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!”

The girl looked horribly beaten up; her hair tie was undone, and a good part of her hair was singed from various explosions. She was bleeding from injuries all over her body, and there was definitely evidence of having been impaled by a spear on her shoulder. But she landed firmly between Pentious and the angel, her eye wide.

“Ya’ can’t kill him!”

“Cherri, what-“

“This looks like Angel, Pent! You can’t kill him!” She held her ground when he reared up to his full height, his hissing so much louder.

“That angelic wench nearly killed Arackniss!” he thundered, and for once even Cherri looked surprised by his full presence. He was a kingpin, after all, no matter what he acted like outside of fighting. “Whether that is Angel or not matters very little to me. I am going to constrict the very life from her body!”

Cherri bit her lip, and Pentious could tell that she was going to do something by the way her hands fumbled behind her, grasping for bombs. 

“I can’t letcha’ do anythin, Pent. Not a chance.” 

“I will kill the both of you if you do not move!” 

The ship was groaning as it ran more firmly into the building, and the various fires and alarms were starting to swell in volume. Pentious’ head was swimming, but all he could think of was the injured spider behind him, and the fact that someone they had offered to help was stopping him from getting his revenge. He wound himself up before striking out, and Cherri reacted almost too late, barely avoiding his bite. Still, she was staying in front of the angel, and Pentious was growing more and more furious. 

“Cease this at once!”

“No!” Cherri pulled out another few bombs. “Dammit, Pent, just clam down and think!” She was backed into the corner, and behind her, Pentious could see the angel was barely awake after he nearly succeeded in choking her. She was so close…

“Then I’m sorry, but our turf war will have to resume now.” Pentious reared back, aiming to strike, but Cherri had other plans. The bomb slipped from her hands and she turned, grabbing onto the angel and dragging her close. All around them, the floor gave out from the small, specifically aimed bombs, and soon the two girls were falling through the bottom of the glass window at the front of the aircraft. 

Pentious hissed as he slid over to the hole, watching as the two girls landed on a building. And Cherri supported the mostly unconscious angel as she dragged her off the side, slipping into the alleyway. He felt his blood boil, but there were more pressing matters to attend right now.

He turned and started barking orders to the egg boys to try and pull the ship right again, and he moved to Arackniss. 

“Stay with me, we are going to get this out.” He frowned as he cradled the small spider, who had passed out at some point during the arguing. His front was soaked in blood, his black fur shining red, and his breathing was shallow. His sails pinned down before he shouted orders. They had to get this ship airborne again, and then they had to help Arackniss quickly.

And when that was all done, he was going to hunt down the angel and Cherri.


	7. You're Never Fully Dressed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The overwhelming support for this has been incredible, so truly thank you for the kind words and eagerness for each chapter. I want to be sure that I'm writing this story well, and I'm hitting a point where I'm writing bad chapters and having to restart so I'm a little behind. I will continue to push for a chapter every Wednesday and Sunday, but just as a forewarning if I miss a day. If that happens, I truly apologize. 
> 
> Ironically, this was one of the chapters that had to be rewritten. Let me know if you want to see the alternative version, I can always post that separately. But I really liked how this one turned out when I rewrote it.
> 
> Anyway, on with Chapter 7!

The brawl outside had been a bloody one. Alastor ensured that no more angels were near the hotel before turning to step inside, the doors slamming behind him with a little more force than he meant to. And the shadows crawled further up and along the walls as he marched, the occupants of the hotel cowering out of his path. The aura he gave off indicated he was out for blood, and he made that perfectly clear to everyone around him.

Alastor took the stairs in stride, ignoring the elevator in favor of taking the winding path up to the very top floor of the hotel, and down the furthest hall to the right. Fitting that the top floor would be where they would house their now prisoner.

Opening the door revealed a room fully drenched in shadows. The little imps chittered and scrambled out of his way as he stepped forward, letting the light cut off behind him. But his eyes glowed red, keeping the room illuminated.

The bed had been thrown from the window, but a simple snap of the fingers had fixed that wall right up. And it was reinforced by large, shadowy tendrils that blocked out the light from the window and reached out, curling in a lattice pattern across the battered, broken gray wings of the angel. He hadn’t fully kept his anger in tact when he’d seen Charlie at the angel’s feet, and she’d lost a good number of feathers. The chance of her flying anytime soon were also slim, considering the bone damage done. And her body was slumped on the ground, head bowed and bloodied hair blocking it from view like a macabre curtain. Her ears had only recently stopped bleeding, and he had to wonder if he’d done permanent damage. 

A part of him was fine with that, considering what happened.

“Rise and shine, my dear.” Alastor tapped his microphone-topped cane, the sound far louder within the room than it should have been. And it was enough to rouse the angel a little from her unconscious state. Her head lifted, and her eye peered up at him through her hair.

“…I’m still alive?” she questioned, her voice only betraying a small hint of emotion outside of the neutral tone.

“You are, my dear. Though strictly through luck, and not my generosity.” He walked over and knelt, a single clawed finger reaching out to tilt her head up, forcing more of her face to be revealed. She was still smiling, and while he was always one to wear one himself, he found the one she wore truly repulsive. “Ahh, I suppose you have finally decided to dress yourself appropriately. Of course, it is far more inappropriate than it was before.”

“I suppose you’re going to torture me for killing your friend,” the angel mused back, her face not even flinching at the admission of what she’d done. It made Alastor’s blood boil a little, but he merely widened his own, yellowy sharp smile.

“Why would I need a reason to torture someone? I would do it on a whim, without hesitation.” 

“You’re a monster.”

Alastor’s laughter rang through the room, and the shadows around him echoed it with a laugh track, making it sound that much larger than life. He stood and flung out both hands, gesturing around him at the curling, rising shadows.

“I never stated otherwise. I find great entertainment in my work, and I take pride in the skill I have developed in my time both on earth _and_ in Hell!” He laughed again, turning his gaze up to the ceiling for a moment as if it truly was the funniest joke he’d ever heard. And then he looked back down at her, a brow raising. “Tell me: what is your name?”

“Vagatha.” She answered without hesitation. “Just Vagatha. No shortcuts, no nicknames. I truly do not know why your friend believed me to be someone else, but that was her mistake.”

“I suppose it is a more proper name. Perhaps fitting.” He leaned forward on his cane, resting his chin on his crossed hands. “Hmm, there’s no part of you that’s curious as to why my friend recognized you?”

“None.” Vagatha twitched a little, glaring up at him. He watched her face, smiling more as her eye started to narrow.

“Are you so sure about that, my dear?” He leaned down again, holding her jaw in a vice grip. “Think carefully now. Your answer could determine what I do with you.”

“I’m hardly concerned about what a demon will do to me. You’re nothing, and my brothers and sisters will avenge me should you strike me down here.”

Alastor watched her for a long time, his brow raising as he studied her face. She seemed to be telling the truth, but there was a little tick around her eye; something was lingering there, something that indicated she wasn’t fully telling the truth. Or perhaps she didn’t completely buy into the rhetoric she had been fed. 

He hummed for a while before slowly letting her jaw go, and his smile slipped a little. The edges of his lips pulled down, and his eyes began to glow brighter. He could see it on her face; the change was not normal. And that was an indication that he needed to show Vaggie was still in there. She knew that when he lost his smile, something was definitely wrong, deep down on a fundamental level. And he could read all of that from her expression.

Alastor crouched down again, and his fingers twitched as the shadows began to dance around the room. “So, the name doesn’t ring a bell for you?” he asked. “Charlie. The Princess of Hell? Hazbin Hotel?” He watched the way her eye narrowed, and he chuckled as he stood. His voice had lost its filter, giving him a very deep, menacing edge.

Behind him, a shadow of the girl manifested on the wall, and she started looking around, wandering through a thicket of dark trees. Alastor himself had slipped into the shadows, watching the angel turn her gaze to the only movement in the room. It almost played like an old, black and white movie as the girl wandered.

“Poor little Charlie,” he crowed. “A silly little dream in the world of nightmares. Hellborn but with a pure heart.” He leaned forward, smiling as the thicket grew darker around the little image, and soon creatures began lurking among the trees. He knew he had the angel’s attention by the way her eye twitched at the potential threats, and her wings began to flare a little behind her. He chuckled before continuing the story. 

“And she tried going to countless demons, pitching her idea. And each one looked her in the face and laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed.” Soon, the room was full of laughter from various laugh tracks. But it wasn’t pleasant; jeers rang throughout the room, and soon the shadowy image of the poor girl was being pelted with trash. Demons mocked her idea, echoing each other, the cacophony growing so loud that Vagatha cringed and tried to cover her ears.

And then…silence. 

Alastor watched before he let the music begin to play. It wasn’t his style, exactly, but he’d heard Charlie sing enough times that he knew some of the songs that she had sung when she was upset. And the song filtered through the room, a complete contrast to the jeering from before. Vagatha’s body relaxed a little, and her eye widened as she watched the form limp through the trees. He could see the way her arms twitched, watched how her wings twisted in the shadowy grasp as she tried to reach out before he reached his hand into view.

Another form joined the first. This one was shorter than her, with what almost looked like a gown of hair. He watched as realization crossed her face, but she didn’t say anything.

“But there was one that believed her. One little soul in all of Hell that saw this girl as more than just a failure.” He chuckled as the images shifted into something more positive. The gnarly canopy of trees gave way to shopping trips and spending time together. The light even changed, going from the dim red of the room and his eyes into something brighter, more blue and purple. 

“The two of them spent so much time together, that a bond began to develop. And they decided to work together.” He hummed as the form of the hotel grew.

As the story continued to play out, he watched the little twitches of her body. She was reacting to something, and whenever she showed a particularly stronger reaction, he doubled down on that. He pushed it, watching the way she leaned in, her breathing stopping for a moment. 

“They procured a hotel from her father, and began anew to try and tackle her silly idea.” Alastor adjusted the imagery, added more forms though he left his out, and soon there was happiness. But that joy seemed almost lost on her, so he took a different approach.

The lighting changed again, and so did the scenery of the shadows on the wall. A gnarled hand shattered the hotel suddenly, and Vagatha tensed. She jerked forward, grinding her teeth and staring as another hand reached, impaling the various forms of the first girl’s friends.

“Tragedy struck, however. Her plan had succeeded, but at what cost?” Alastor’s voice grew darker, and the music turned sinister within the room. Even from his vantage point, he could see the way Vagatha was starting to grow frantic, eye zeroed in on that one shadow. “Everything she loved was ripped away from her. Because she was left alone.” He had no problem adding his shadow in now, twisted and demonic and monstrous behind Charlie’s shadow. “Because no one was on her side.”

Vagatha’s breathing was harsh as she pulled at the binds, and her face was starting to finally show signs of cracking. That smile was faltering, and she almost looked desperate. Alastor settled back on his perch, his smile widening as he twitched his hand.

“She was left all alone to be the devil’s play thing.” Alastor had them dance, but it was a more somber dance. And the music played as if in reverse, displaying the antlered demon twirling her around. “Her project soon became _his_. And he was happy to claim it, to use her to his advantage. In every way.” He didn’t emphasize what he meant, but he could see her face go from one of desperation to pure rage. Emotions other than the hollow smile were starting to bleed through, and she ground her teeth together.

“And I used her.” Alastor stood in front of her, forcing her gaze to move to his face. “I used her every last moment of her life.” His smile was twisted, his eyes reduced to radio dials in his skull. “Until she became mine. My play thing.”

Vagatha was soon screaming out in rage until she pulled against the shadows, ignoring the agony in her wings as feathers were torn from them. She pulled and forced herself forward, perhaps the shadows loosened a little for her to pull free, and her fist collided with his cheek. He stumbled back but caught himself, lifting a brow as he watched. 

“I knew you were bad, you fucking radio shitlord!” Vagatha…no, Vaggie shouted at him, her wings flared out behind her. She was panting, her eye dilated to one of rage. “I KNEW you were using her for your personal gain! I knew you…you…” Her voice trailed off after a moment, and realization soon crossed her face. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before her eye widened, and her hand moved to cover her mouth. “Charlie…”

“Ahhh, so you do remember her name.” Alastor mused. He reached, putting a hand to the growing bruise on his cheek before cracking a smile. “Well now, isn’t that a shame?”

“Alastor, what happened t-to…I did that, I…” Vaggie’s legs gave out beneath her, and she brought a hand to her mouth, her eye finding him again in sheer desperation. “Where is she?!”

“Ah ah ah, my dear.” Alastor crouched down, tilting her chin up and smiling more. “Frowning is not necessary. Why, what would everyone think if they saw you in such a state? Rest yourself.” He stood and turned, walking towards the door.

“Alastor…? Alastor! ALASTOR, TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO CHARLIE!” Vaggie screamed behind him, her voice a combination of pure horror and agony. “PLEASE!”

But Alastor shut the door on her pleading form. Perhaps he was still furious, but he wasn’t sure she was free to wander the hotel just yet. To be sure of that, the room was enclosed with shadows again, and he stepped back, humming to himself as he made his way down a few stories.

He lingered in the hallway for a stretch of time, watching the door. It was fancier than the rest in the hotel, and his smile dipped somewhat. His hand rested on the knob, and his brows furrowed in thought.

There was a gentle press against the heel of his foot, and he glanced down to find the soft, glowing pink eyes of Fat Nuggets peeking up at him, snorting softly. Despite being an animal, he had definitely been paying attention to the fighting outside. This was the first time he’d managed to sneak his way out of Angel’s room, or perhaps Niffty had let him out if he was making a ruckus. Alastor wasn’t too sure as he hadn’t been near that room all day.

“Are you here to check in on her, too?” Alastor asked lightly. He gently pulled the door open, allowing the pig demon to enter the room ahead of him before following inside.

In the king sized, behind the drawn curtain, there was a form beneath the covers. An arm lay off the side, slack and still burned from the attack earlier. Alastor’s ears down turned a little as he stepped into the room, following Fat Nuggets over until he was standing at the foot of the bed. He watched as the pig approached the fingers barely above the carpeted flooring, and his snout nuzzled lightly against them before a small, pink tongue stuck out and licked over the flesh.

It took a few moments, but the fingers twitched from the feeling. The form in the bed shifted a little, and Charlie’s voice spoke up, raspy and weak.

“Hehe…hey, Nuggies. Did you come all the way here to check in on me?”

“I certainly didn’t let him free.” Alastor moved to pull the curtain back, his smile softening ever so slightly as he appraised the princess. She was laying on her back, her body bandaged around her joins and the place she had been impaled. But her face was still visible, and she smiled up at him.

“And I suppose you’re just here to check in on your investment?”

“I could hardly run this place by myself. I lack a certain…”charm.”” Alastor laughed before touching her cheek gently. “You’re healing quite well.”

“It’ll take more than that to take me down.” Still, her smile faded, and she hunched up a little. “Al, what happened to-?”

“Rest for now, my dear. You need your strength.” Alastor stooped and lifted Fat Nuggets, carefully setting him on top of Charlie. “Focus on the swine. He’s supposed to make people feel better. But if he can’t do that, we can always use fresh breakfast.”

Charlie gasped and tugged the pig closer protectively, giving him the most insulted expression.

“You will not!”

Alastor just waved over his shoulder as he laughed, letting the door close firmly behind him.


	8. Seeing Double

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late upload! I was playing Phasmophobia all day while also fighting a UTI, so today's been a real rough day of feeling fear and pain.
> 
> This is another soft chapter. I love all the pairings, but Mollybomb is my OTP for Hazbin. So I apologize if it isn't your cup of tea, this chapter is entirely that but it is relevant for the story! Hope you enjoy the soft girls.

Even though it was the most obvious place for her to go, it was her best option. Cherri’s shoulder was screaming from the spear injury she’d suffered, never mind the various burns along her head, the singed parts of her hair, the limp in her stride, and the giant fucking angel currently draped over her.

Today was just shit.

She grunted as she heaved the large form onto the bed, moving to grab some handcuffs from the closet. Curtesy of some of her and Angel’s drunken escapades, and her own various fun. She didn’t want the angel to wake up and impale her after she’d already gone through the ringer. Not that the angel was in any state to.

Cherri’s eye landed on the bite mark on the angel’s arm. The skin had already begun to turn dark beneath her white fur, and her veins stood out a blackish yellow color. Her breathing was weak, raspy, and that angelic smile had slipped after she had fallen unconscious. Cherri recognized the symptoms; it wasn’t like she hadn’t been bitten by Pentious before during their many turfs. His venom was nasty.

Once the angel was firmly secured, she moved over to her sink and began to rummage around. The sounds of demons screaming and various fighting around the city was loud thanks to the hole in her ceiling, but this was the best option to lay low for the time being. Pentious’ ship would take some time before it was airborne again, anyway. She shook her head and pushed the noise out of her mind as she pulled out a container, flipping the top open.

Pentious was many things, but he never actually went for the kill on her. Not ever. It was what made him a truly pathetic candidate for an Overlord. And he’d ensured she had a good stock of anti-venom so that if she was ever bit by him, she could recover. Such a silly, soft serpent. Her smile slipped a little when she remembered how truly furious he had been when she stole his revenge away from him, and she grit her teeth, closing her eye.

“Dammit, Pent…” 

A groan from the other room caught her attention, and Cherri moved over with the vial to find the angel beginning to stir. Whatever made them sturdy was definitely helping her survive the venom.

“Easy does it there, babe. Yer not gonna’ wanna’ aggravate the venom even more.” Cherri crossed over only to leap back when the angel attempted to swipe at her, though the attack was weak.

“What…have you done to me, demon?” she slurred, eyes rolling a little as she tried to focus on the single eye of the cyclops. “Why am I restrained?”

“Uh, ‘cause I ain’t interested in turnin’ into a little light show fer ya?” Cherri rolled her eye before holding up the box. “It’s anti-venom. Dunno’ if Pent’s bite can actually kill an angel, but it ain’t a way to go, alright?”

“You’re going to poison me further,” the angel stated, watching her closely.

“Why the fuck would I do that? Seriously, the venom must already be in yer brain. Now hold still so I don’t pop a vein or somethin’.” Cherri moved over and firmly sat on top of the angel. With the cuffs, she couldn’t do anything to get the demon off, despite her attempts to pull free or throw the smaller woman off. “Hey! Sit still!”

“I will never submit to a demon. Once I am free, I will finish what I started, and avenge my fallen brethren-“ 

The slap rang throughout the room, so loud and violent that the angel’s head snapped to the side. Cherri watched as she opened and closed her mouth a few times before looking up at her. She still held her hand up, and her brow arched.

“My shoulder is bleedin’ out, I haven’t even addressed it. I’m pretty sure my leg is either sprained or broken. I smell like the ass end of a lit cigarette, and I’m having a really fuckin’ bad hair day. So when I say sit still, sit the fuck still.”

The angel couldn’t tear her gaze away from her as she held up the vial, working on filling it with the anti-venom before plunging it lightly into the injured arm. Once that was done, Cherri got up off the angel and put the stuff away before frowning in the mirror, touching the bloodied hole that the spear had left in her shoulder. “Dammit…”

In the room behind her, she could hear the angel begin to shift, and she leaned out of the doorway to watch her. It seemed like the anti-venom was working, with how much more fluid the angel was moving.

“Oi, what’s your name?” Cherri called. “Ya’ look like a friend of mine, but yer clearly not. I only saved ya’ ‘cause I thought ya’ WERE him.”

“…my name is Molly.” The angel watched her, her gaze no longer cloudy from the pain and delirium. “Who do I look like?”

“Ironically, dude’s name was Angel. Angel Dust, so obviously ain’t a reference to what ya’ are, but still…” Cherri gestured lightly. “I mean hell, other than the arms and legs, ya’ both could be twins?”

Molly seemed to think for a few moments before she tilted her head. “Huh…there was a more recent addition to heaven that does look like me? Well, sort of. He has six arms and two legs, but his white fur is like mine?”

Cherri’s eye widened before she all but threw herself on top of the angel again, grabbing her by the shoulders. 

“He was there?! Where is he now?! How is he?!”

Molly leaned away from her, though the restraints held her down. “He ended up down here, for the cleanse.” 

“He’s here?” Cherri stared before sitting back, not at all concerned with making herself comfortable on top of the angel. She made note of how uncomfortable the angel was with her being so close, and she smirked a little as she leaned closer, putting her face almost touching the angel so that her giant eye was all she saw. “What, is somethin’ wrong, babe?”

“Do you have to sit on top of me, demon?” Molly questioned, leaning back from Cherri. “I’m already restrained. And now that you have your answer, why are you dragging this out?”

“Draggin’ what out?”

“Obviously you’re going to kill me now that you have the information about my look alike. Because if I get out of these restraints, I will kill you,” Molly stated simply. “So end it.”

Cherri pondered her words for a few moments before shrugging. She absently slipped off the angel and went to address her bleeding shoulder, reaching to pull her shirt and bra off without hesitation or thinking about her guest.

“Nah, there ain’t no reason to kill ya’. Might still be able to learn a bit about Angel from ya’ anyway, ‘cause as soon as I’m done I’m goin’ out to look for him.” Her voice was so nonchalant that she didn’t expect the surprised sound from the angel.

“Why are you stripping in front of me?” Molly’s wings twitched a little, and she adverted her gaze with a little frown that tugged at her lips. 

“…what? Ya’ got tits, too?” Cherri hissed as she dabbed alcohol on her injury, more focused on her reflection. “Look, yer outta’ this world hot, and given the chance I would 100% eat you out and give you the best, and likely only, orgasm, of your freakin’ afterlife. But I got a lot more on my plate right now than your divine double D’s.”

“You have such a foul mouth?” Molly still wasn’t looking at her, which suited Cherri just fine as she struggled to pull bandages over her injuries, applying some cream to the burns. Always carried plenty of that around.

“Uh, yeah? I’m kinda’ in Hell, I don’t gotta’ worry about my language, babe.” Cherri leaned back and eyed herself in the mirror, nodding. It would have to do. Now…what was she going to do with the angel? She stepped back into the room and ended up sitting in a chair by the bed, watching Molly. “So…Angel’s an angel now, right? Why do ya’ look like him?”

“Would you please put on a shirt first? And then we can talk…” Molly shook her head. Her smile had come back a little, but the venom had left an interesting expression that Cherri was watching. A wry smile crossed the demon’s face and she ran her hands up her torso, cupping her breasts and pushing them together.

“Awww, c’mon. Don’t ya’ wanna’ take a little peek? It won’t hurt none, and ya’ don’t’ gotta’ tell no one,” she cooed lazily, letting her eyelid droop a little.

Molly twitched a little before looking over at her. And upon meeting Cherri’s expression, and seeing where her hands were, her face actually turned quite red. An angel reacting like that was…weird? She squirmed in her restraints and tried to bring her wings up again to block her view.

“Do not tempt me, demon! I am immune to your charms!” 

“Ain’t lookin’ so immune now.”

“You must have some form of…power over me. I should not be burning like this…”

“Maybe ya’ ain’t as divine as ya’ think?” Cherri mused. She leaned back and hummed. “It’s kinda’ weird? Ya’ act like yer some kinda’…robot? I mean that freaky smile and the way ya’ talk, it doesn’t sound normal?”

“It’s perfectly normal.” Molly just shook her head. “It’s just normal for angels. Individuality is a sin.”

“That’s what angel’s consider a sin? Fuck.” Cherri made a face before she was up and moving over. “Hey, promise not to stab me if I undo your restraints?”

“…you would trust my word?”

“Why not? Are ya’ really gonna’ blow up someone that just helped ya’?” She paused, watching Molly until she just nodded her head, and she worked on undoing the handcuffs. “Look…Angel was my best friend, and I miss him. I’ve missed him the past year. I just…wanna’ know what he’s up to.”

Once Molly was free, she moved to grab a new bra and shirt, pulling them on and sitting back in the chair. The angel hadn’t moved, instead watching her with an almost curious expression now. There was more life on that face than there had been during the fight with Arackniss and Pentious.

Molly reached to rub her wrists, brows furrowing somewhat before she moved to stand up. Her wings flared out, twitching a little just to test them. After a few moments, she settled back on the edge of the bed and looked at Cherri.

“Tell me more about your friendship.”

“Huh?” Cherri looked surprised. She frowned as she pondered that request before leaning back. “Alright, well…Angel and I were best friends for decades. I got here after him, but we hit it off pretty well the first time we met. Heh, we’d almost always hang out at clubs getting’ drunk or high, but just as often we’d go out and get a coffee. I even stole some donuts once, they were real good. But he did get in trouble for that one…” She shifted before getting up, crossing over to her mirror and peeling off her favorite picture of him, holding it out to the angel. “I dunno’, we just always…had each other’s backs. Whether it was turfin’ or boyfriend or girlfriend trouble, we just talked.”

Her expression had grown softer, and her chest tightened again as she thought about it. And if this angel was to be believed, Angel was down here slaughtering demons. There was a very real chance that he could kill her if he saw her, and that… She sunk a little into her seat. 

The room was silent for a while before the angel reached, taking the picture from Cherri’s hand and studying it. Her eye shifted to watch the way the angel studied the expression, and it was almost comedic to watch her try to mimic the smile in the photo.

“I’m around smiles all the time. Everyone in Heaven wears one. And yet…this one looks different?” Molly questioned, holding the photo up again. “Why does it look so weird?”

“Maybe ‘cause it’s real.” Cherri gestured. “No offense, hot stuff, but yer smile looks real fake. Like yer forcin’ yerself to wear it. And it’s off puttin’. I mean…what’re you smilin’ about? What’re ya’ happy about to justify the smile if yer friends just died?”

“Smiles are…” Molly paused, her brows furrowing. “They’re just…something angels do? I mean why shouldn’t we be? We’re performing a service to the world to handle the demonic overpopulation in Hell, and it’s a noble cause to be proud of. But…” Her lower set of hands twisted in her lap a little, and Cherri could tell she was starting to think hard.

She hesitated before getting up from the chair, plucking the picture from her hands and waving it lightly when the angle jerked, looking around for it.

“Hey, no need to get so real.” Cherri laughed lightly. She settled back with the picture before looking up at the sky. “Once yer able to move, we should get outta’ here. Pent’s pissed and he’s probably already on his way.”

“The serpent?”

“Yeah. Ya’ kinda’ fucked up his boyfriend.” She paused. “…is he gonna’ die?”

“I didn’t get to finish the cleansing.” Molly leaned back, thinking about the little form. He had known her… “So there’s a chance he had not succumbed?”

Cherri nodded at that. She was about to open her mouth again when the building shuttered, and a piece of ceiling almost hit Molly on the head. Her eye widened and she hopped up, moving to see if she could get a better vantage point through the hole.

Despite it having only been a few hours, the dirigible was in the air again, though sparking wildly and on fire on various places. And through the glass at the front, Cherri could just barely make out the expression on the serpent demon’s face. Pentious wasn’t smiling, and he wasn’t monologuing. That was enough to set her nerves on hyper drive.

“Fuck,” she cursed, and barely managed to drag Molly out of way in time for the next series of shots that peppered her unit. Pentious wasn’t playing around, and they were at a serious disadvantage. She and Molly were both injured, but Pentious had been out of most of the fighting. 

When she opened the door at the base of the apartment complex, she discovered a sea of egg boys, each holding various weapons, all pointed at her. She paused, eye scanning over them before back up to the aircraft, and she grit her teeth hard.

“… _FUCK_ …”


	9. Explosive Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Been obsessed with Phasmophobia still, and it's been consuming my life! But here we go, we're finally getting to some good stuff again.
> 
> Again, thank you all so much for the comments! It's been a real help to keep going. And I hope you continue to enjoy~

Anthony slipped out of the alleyway, letting go of the breath he had been holding. He was doing his best to stay out of sight, but it wasn’t as easy as he had initially thought. Most of the demons were inside, so any sort of movement had him worried that he would attract the attention of the angels. And right now, he didn’t particularly want to join them. Not that he could; his wings ached terribly from the amount of feather loss caused by Valentino, and he wasn’t sure how long it would take for him to recover.

He shook his head and kept moving, further and further from the Lust district and into the Pride district. It was here that he remembered the girl living, and he also remembered that this was where Molly’s squadron had been sent. He would have to try and avoid her as well, and hope she hadn’t killed his friend. Something told him that the little cyclops woman wouldn’t go down that easy, but that didn’t stop the fearful clench in his chest. 

Just ahead, he could see a machine floating in the sky, struggling as if it had been damaged and was barely keeping itself up. He tilted his head curiously and picked up his pace, just in time to see the laser slam into a building that had already been marked up with various attacks. And the streets were a mess of splattered shells and eggs. They all had various weapons that were firing at the building, but also at a form that was running around the streets, cracking eggs every chance it got.

All at once, his head started throbbing, and he reached up to put a hand to the side. This scene was familiar; an egg massacre in the streets, and him leaping into the fray. And that girl was there…the one that he had been here to get. The one that, right now, was in the middle of a one on however many eggs there were. 

Anthony grit his teeth as he moved forward, and the spear materialized in his hand when he thrusted it forward, impaling a few eggs right away. His presence was only immediately noticed by the eggs, and a few turned to start attacking him. 

Up ahead, the girl slammed an egg into the ground and panted hard. She was injured, Anthony could even see that from where he was, and that let an egg get a good shot off on her. The sound she made had him seeing red, and his third pair of arms came out to help him fight with two more spears. It didn’t feel right, but it was the only weapon he was able to manifest.

The next shot aimed at the girl was blocked by a wing, and Angel hissed as it singed more feathers. But she didn’t get hit… Her one eye opened and slowly moved up his body until they were staring at each other. That eye was enough to flood him with more memories, and his jaw opened in surprised before he let out a cry, the next few shots getting him in the wings.

“Angel?!” Her voice cried out before she reached back into her hair, yanking out a bunch of bombs. The resulting explosion caused a temporary screen of smoke that gave them time to breathe, if only for a moment. And she caught his shoulder when he fell. “What the fuck?”

“Hey, sugar tits.” Anthony cracked a grin, putting two hands on her shoulders. “That is one of the nicknames I had for you, right?”

“Wait, do ya’…?” She openly stared at him. “Do ya’ know who I am?”

“I know it might be hard to believe, but…I think I do?” Anthony shook his head. “Not fully right now, but…I came looking for you. Looks like you’re in a bit of a bind.”

“Heh, well I’m always up for help.” She straightened him. “Think you can actually keep up without yer tommy guns?”

“Toss a few bombs my way and I’ll show you.” He held his hands out and she casually passed the bombs his way. The weight felt familiar, and his smile widened into something far more normal. That wasn’t the smile of an angel; it was the manic smile of a killer.

Anthony flapped his wings, the cloak he had been wearing fluttering off in the gust of wind that knocked away the smoke screen surrounding them. The egg boys had come closer, and that resulted in them being swept up by the wings. He charged into the fight, dropping the bombs behind him as he did so, while Cherri – that was her name, yeah! Cherri Bomb! –leapt in the opposite direction. He laughed when the bombs went off in a bright array of colors, and the smell of the smoke filled his nostrils. 

“So, still gettin’ into trouble, even on cleanse day?”

“Ah, what can I say? Pent and I can’t stop dancin’.” Cherri answered back so casually. They had fallen into old patterns, with her tossing him some bombs and him watching her back. It was as if nothing had changed; even the way he spoke felt suddenly different, more…natural. 

“Ah, lucky you even GET him to dance with you! I’d love to give him a dance.”

“Oooh, careful there. Yer some big shot angel boy now, wouldn’t wanna’ piss off the all mighty one Himself, huh?”

“Eh.” Anthony threw a spear, shattering a line of egg boys before recalling it to his hand. “If he’s got an issue with me, he can say it to my face.”

The eggs were seemingly endless, and neither exactly started the fight in good condition. Cherri panted a little and leaned against him for support, reaching for another bomb and grabbing air.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna’ say it, but I think I’m low on bombs.” She frowned before looking up. “Molls should be stemmin’ the flow of eggs up there-“

“Molls? Wait, you don’t mean Molly, do you?” Anthony stared down at her. “As in…an angel?”

“Yeah?” Cherri pointed. “She can fly, so I told her to go see if she could stop the flow of eggs Pentious is throwing our way. Think she mighta’ gotten lost.” Hopefully not worse…

Anthony followed her gesture, leaving them both distracted to be hit from behind. He hissed out at the shot to his back, and he slumped a little on the ground. Another gun fired a series of black restraints, dragging Cherri away from him and into the mass of eggs.

“At long last, I’ve caught you. As in actually captured you after a fair fight.” The demon that slithered closer was familiar to Anthony, but his expression wasn’t. He associated this demon with a pretty pathetic old man trying to fit in with the popular kids; this demon looked like he was out for blood.

Cherri squirmed in the restraints and her eye narrowed at the serpent. Anthony wasn’t anywhere close to being able to help her, and he struggled against the eggs now piling up on him.

“Pent! C’mon, would ya’ lay off?” she was trying to argue as he approached. “Look, I’m sorry about Niss. But I’m sure he’s fine! Molls said she didn’t even get the magic off, so he shouldn’t be dead-“

“THAT does not matter!” Pentious hissed out, his sail flaring open. “I do not care that the woman did not “succeed” at what she was trying to do. We took you in, and you had the audacity to save the beast who nearly slew Arackniss!” 

That name was another point of familiarity. Anthony zoned out for a moment, brows furrowing. Cherri Bomb, Arackniss, and assuming Pent was short for Pentious, these were all demons that he knew. He closed his eyes and thought about them, thought about the little black spider who was his brother. The thought of him dying by an angel spear made his chest clench hard, and he felt his hold on his spear loosen. He could really do damage with this thing to anyone around him…

His eyes snapped open at the sound of an explosion. The eggs that had been holding Cherri shattered and she stumbled upon her landing. Pentious didn’t give her a lot of time to recover, and he struck out at her, aiming to either get his fangs or claws in her, or his coils around her. His movements were fluid and precise, whereas hers were sluggish and scrappy. She was already injured from something else, putting her at a distinct disadvantage.

Anthony grit his teeth before twitching, grabbing the spear again and using it to slam into a large portion of the eggs on top of him. His white fur and feathers were sticky and doused with egg white and egg yolk, but he was free to stand up and charge forward. He had no intention of slaying the demon, but he had to do what he could for Cherri.

The eggs, however, focused him. The large number of them that got in his way slowed him down, and he did his best to try and stave off their attacks. One of his eyes kept glancing back to the fight between the two demons, watching Pentious slam into a wall with Cherri barely slipping out of the way. And he reared back for another strike. His memories told him that the serpent had never been this livid before. And that made him nervous.

Especially when Cherri’s ankle twisted in a pool of egg whites, and she fell off balance in time for Pentious to coil around her, fangs impaling her on the arm she tried to bring up to stop him from biting her. She didn’t scream, but she did suck in a sharp breath. She reached, struggling for a bomb to manifest, but she’d used too much that day. Between fighting the angels and all of the eggs, there wasn’t much she could do.

“Cherri!” Angel shouted. His wings flared, and despite the screaming in his shoulders, he charged forward at the two of them. His spear got Pentious in the coils, and he released Cherri to hiss out a pained cry. The girl’s body hit the ground and stayed while Pentious reared up.

“Angel Dust?” He paused, getting a good look at him. “You aren’t the angel that attacked us before? How are _you_ here?”

“I came lookin’ for her.” Anthony frowned at that name, but he was far more focused on the demon still close to his friend. That was a lot of blood…

“I’m not interested in starting anything with you,” Pentious stated simply, using his hand to brush his folded sail back. “I’m going to finish her off with my machine, and then I will track down that angel who harmed what belongs to me and finish her off as well.”

“Ya’ aren’t touchin’ a hair on Cherri’s head.” Anthony flared a wing out. He wasn’t sure what the girls had planned, but it needed to happen soon. There were still egg boys around them, though he wanted to believe they weren’t being reinforced. 

“Oh, you care about her? I thought you were some high and mighty angel now,” Pentious sneered. “Which does mean you’re a lot easier to kill down here than you were.”

Anthony gripped his spear. He didn’t… _want_ to hurt Pentious. Sure, beating up on him had always been fun, at least from what little he could remember, but it had never been malicious. Not like the moth…and he even had the means of killing him clasped in his hands. 

Thankfully, an explosion interrupted him. Both he and Pentious looked up, watching the dirigible catch fire out of various sections, and it started to plummet towards the ground. The form flying away from it had Pentious tensing up, but then he was panicking as he slithered after it.

“Arackniss!”

Anthony took his time to scoop Cherri up, and his wings carried them a good distance away before the pain was too much and he had to land. No sooner had he touched the ground that a form collided with him, and a spear was planted against his throat.

“What did you do to her?!”

“Easy, Molly!” He held his hands up. “Pentious bit her, but I got her outta’ there!” He offered her a smile. “Looks like I’m not the only one havin’ a bit of a change of heart.”

Molly stared at him before relaxing, easing off of him and letting him go. She turned to check on Cherri, who was looking even paler than normal, and frowned. 

“I’m sorry I was late, it wasn’t easy to find the source of the eggs…” She carefully held Cherri before looking at Anthony, her eyes wide. “What do we do now?’

Anthony stood, watching the dirigible hit the ground and fully deflate. He’d fought the snake demon before, and the outcome of that had been being picked up and taken elsewhere. A flash of red filled his mind and his eyes widened. That same red that he’d seen during his fight with Valentino, but that he hadn’t been able to reach out to again, was starting to dance through his vision. The warmth that he felt made him ache, and he reached to clutch his chest.

“I know where we have to go next,” he stated firmly, and he glanced back over his shoulder at her. They exchanged glances before Molly opened her wings. They could at least put distance between them and the serpent demon with her carrying them, even if it wasn’t far. And they were on a clock now; in his hold, Cherri slumped like dead weight, her eye closed and her veins around the bite already starting to turn yellow and black.

“Do you know how to help her?” Molly asked, her voice quiet. Neither of them was wearing their smile, and they didn’t have to discuss why that was. They were both fugitives now, for helping a demon and for not returning to the other squadrons around them. Anthony was almost happy that one other angel was in this situation with him.

“I think if we make it to the place in my memories, someone there can save her.” Anthony nodded firmly. He held Cherri against his chest, desperate. She had to be okay. And somehow, as his mind wandered again towards that red color. It was soothing, beckoning him, and he knew that when he found the source of that red, everything would be fine. Cherri would be okay, he and Molly would get to recover, and he would finally be able to end the gnawing, empty feeling in his chest.

As Molly carried them, keeping low to the ground to avoid other angels, his mind began to fill with music. The intrusion was a welcome one, the song familiar to what he had heard when he first entered that room. And there, standing beside the remaining shards from the glass bomb, was the red-stained glass deer. The music swelled from it, and the entire room was simply red. With shadows that danced along the walls of two beings, one tall and one short, dancing and swirling to the music. His chest tightened and he looked up at the other angel.

“Take us to Central. To the building that says _Hazbin Hotel_.”


	10. Stay With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is probably one of my favorites. I love me my RadioDust, don't get me wrong. But for the last few weeks I've really come around to Chaggie (RainbowMoth is so much cuter a pairing word). I think I know why, and it's a personal level I'm not going to get into here, but...I think I know. So...enjoy this 100% self-indulgent fluff chapter, I was listening to a lot of feel good music while writing it.

Vaggie stared at the door, listening to the footsteps that approached. It had been hours since she’d last seen anyone, since she’d seen Alastor, and she was getting antsy and frustrated about being locked up without knowing what happened. Or what was happening outside. She tugged a little at her restraints, hissing when the shadows around her wings tore feathers free, but she didn’t care.

“ALASTOR, OPEN THIS DOOR,” she shouted again, though her voice was hoarse. The horrors of being left alone to the memories of her impaling the blonde demon were tearing at her mental walls, and she knew she was panicking. But she _had_ to see her, had to know if she was actually gone. Alastor made her believe that…

Finally, the shadows around the door receded, and it opened to reveal the red demon. He wore his usual smile as he appraised her, reaching to adjust his monocle. 

“You called, my dear?” he cooed, padding over to crouch down in front of her. “I didn’t think you wanted to see me again-“

“Cut the shit.” Vaggie growled out before her body slumped. “…I know you’re mad at me. If I was in your position, I would be, too. Just…I need to see her, okay? Even if it’s just her…” She couldn’t bring herself to say it, and she looked up at him with her one eye. “ _Please_ , Alastor.”

Alastor’s brow rose. Normally her pleas would likely have fallen on deaf ears, and she was fully expecting that to be the case this time. She tensed up, eye narrowing a little and hair bristling. She was about ready to start shouting at him again, her hands clenching tightly into fists. 

“Very well.”

That word caught her off guard, more so than the shadows recoiling away from her. She hit the ground at his feet and shifted, pushing herself up before peeking. He had stood up, and he tilted his head as he watched her with a lazy smile. 

“Very…well…?”

“You heard me.” Alastor mused. He rocked on his feet before leaning forward on his cane. “You look downright miserable, and really I cannot stand such a pitiful expression on your face.” His smile sharpened, and there was the distinct sound of a high pitch radio squeal that caused her skin to crawl. “However, if you so much as harm a single denizen of this establishment, I will show you what true Hell awaits you.”

Vaggie tensed before forcing her body to relax. Though she hated the idea of it, because his smug face was pissing her off, she ended up bowing her head down in front of her at his feet and folding her wings down. She realized how dangerous this was; neck and back exposed, no way of blocking an attack, but the vulnerable position was exactly something a predator would react to.

“I swear on my life that no one in this hotel will be harmed,” she vowed. “Keep my weapons, keep an eye on me, whatever it takes. I promise I will behave.”

Alastor cleared his throat above her, and she looked up. The scary expression from before was gone, and his hand was held out to her, palm up. His ear flicked lightly, his smile softening somewhat as he appraised her.

“It has been some time, my dear Vaggie. I have missed that fiery personality.”

Vaggie’s eye widened somewhat and she shifted, reaching up to take the offered hand. Her cheeks flushed a little from embarrassment at the whole situation.

“I don’t…remember everything still, but it’s coming back. Slowly but surely,” she mumbled absently, allowing the demon to stand her back up on her feet.

“You remember enough that I trust you,” Alastor countered. He snapped his fingers, the shadows around the room vanishing instantly and leaving them in a very normal looking, bed-less hotel room. “Between your expressions and your actions, I truly believe that you feel remorse for what you did. And that you have finally regained a part of you that was lost.”

Vaggie looked surprised. She studied his face, brow furrowing somewhat. The Alastor she vaguely remembered wasn’t entirely pleasant like this. But then again, he had been left alone with Charlie for a year, and the two of them had lost someone. Was it so hard to believe the Radio Demon had changed somewhat?

It kind of was still.

“Can I go see Charlie then…?” Vaggie asked, and her voice suddenly sounded a little weaker. She felt small, her wings curling against her back despite the pain of the likely broken bones. She didn’t think she’d be flying anytime soon at this rate.

“I think that would be appropriate. She has been asking about you.” Alastor turned and made his way to the door. Vaggie stared at his back before perking a little.

“Charlie’s alive…?”

“I think it best you see her yourself.” Alastor opened the door and grinned back at her. “Are you coming?”

Vaggie swallowed before nodding quickly, quickly catching up to him and following him down the hall. Her eye bounced around curiously, taking in the state of the building. It actually looked fairly well kept, even on the top floor where she was. She briefly recalled the small, cyclopean woman that would often zip around performing various cleaning tasks. Vaggie wondered if she was even still alive, she hadn’t yet seen her. The stroll through the hotel was more than enough to start jogging her memories a bit more, especially as they finally arrived at the grand, intricate door at the end of one of the halls. 

“Here we are. I shall leave the two of you alone,” Alastor mused, reaching to open the door. Vaggie stood there, a hand to her chest as she stared into the dimly lit room. Before she could say anything, the Radio Demon was simply gone, and she was left alone to tentatively step forward. Her heart was racing and her palms were clammy; she kept trying to dry them on her clothes, but they wouldn’t stop.

Before her, the view of the bed was blocked by curtains, and the sound of something snorting lightly was just audible. The sound wasn’t entirely familiar to her, but she focused more on the outline propped up against the pillow. 

“Al? Is that you?” 

The voice made Vaggie stop dead in her tracks as her heart seized. Her eye was starting to water, and she almost wanted to turn and leave right then and there. What she’d done to Charlie was unforgiveable, in every possible way, and she didn’t deserve to be there even begging for forgiveness. 

She must have made a soft sound because the form shifted a little, trying to lean over to see.

“Al?”

“It…it’s not Al…” Her voice came out so soft, so weak, and she covered her mouth again as she watched the form stiffen before reaching to pull back the curtain.

One wide eye met two even wider ones, and Vaggie got to see Charlie fully. She was shirtless, bandages covering her shoulders, chest, and torso where the spear had impaled her. There were burns along her neck and the joints of her arms, and she looked even paler than normal somehow. 

And it had been her fault that this had had happened…

“Vaggie…?”

“Charlie, I-“ Vaggie had no idea what to say. Her heart was all she could hear, thundering in her ears, and tears were blurring her vision. She didn’t even know what to say, her mind was a mass of conflicting emotions all wrapped up in a single, guilty bow.

“Vaggie, come here.”

Once again, the voice shattered the maelstrom of emotions threatening to suffocate her. Vaggie refocused on the eyes staring at her, and that small smile that that lived on those lips. One of the heavily bandaged arms reached up, the palm of the hand turned up and out towards her. And she couldn’t help the way her body stumbled forward towards the offered hand, her own reaching out and hesitantly grabbing it. 

The moment their hands met, a rush of memories and emotions filled Vaggie’s mind. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed besides the bed, carefully clinging to the injured palm held out to her. From the smell of her hair to the warmth of her body, every moment of her afterlife with the demon was on full display. She broke a little, her chest heaving and eyes leaking as she rested her head against the bed.

“I’m sorry,” she croaked weakly, her shoulders trembling. “I’m so sorry, Charlie. I’m so sorry…”

A few moments passed before the second hand reached, gently covering hers so that it was held between the two. And despite the bandages, Vaggie could still feel the warmth between them.

“I forgive you.”

“Huh…?” Vaggie turned her gaze up, staring openly into the wider smile of the blonde demon.

“I forgive you, Vaggie.” She tugged her gently, and Vaggie followed the gesture, crawling into bed besides her. She was careful not to hurt the already heavily injured blonde further.

“How? I…I did this to you? I attempted to exorcise you, and it should have worked?” Vaggie bit her lip, really taking a look at her. How did it NOT work? She wasn’t complaining, but it didn’t make any sense?

“Don’t sound so upset that it failed,” Charlie teased softly, and she held her hand up when Vaggie opened her mouth to talk. “I’m just kidding. I don’t honestly know how I’m still alive? Maybe…it’s because I was born here?” She titled her head. “When angels exorcise, do they exorcise souls?”

“I…I’m pretty sure?” Vaggie blinked. “Purifying the souls destroys them, at least that’s what we were told?”

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t have one, huh?” Charlie put a hand to her own chest, closing her eyes and chuckling. “For once, I’m happy that I’m Hellborn.”

Vaggie tilted her head to the side at that before she smiled meekly. Her hand reached, gently moving along the bandages on her body. Of course Charlie’s voice was doing wonders to keep her focused and not self-hating. She didn’t want to make this about herself; Charlie needed the comfort, so it wasn’t fair she was already taking charge to make her feel better. 

“Hun, you should worry more about yourself.” Vaggie gently nudged her back down. “I’m fine.”

“You weren’t before! But…” Charlie huffed before smiling a little. “I’m glad you’re…you again. I didn’t like it when you didn’t recognize me…”

“I…know, and I’m sorry.” Vaggie frowned, putting a hand to her forehead. “I really didn’t remember you at all, otherwise I never would have-“

“Stop.” Charlie put a hand over her mouth. “I don’t want to hear another word. You’re here now, we aren’t going through with the silly apologies, and you just owe me a massage and a bath once I recover.”

Vaggie stared at her for a while before she smiled softly. She reached to move the hand away from her mouth and leaned forward, her lips pressing against Charlie’s. There was a brief moment that she thought Charlie was going to pull away, but a hand came up to catch the back of her head, burying firmly in her hair to hold her head in place. Charlie leaned into the kiss almost desperately, no time to breathe between the two of them.

When they did finally part, both women were panting. Vaggie reached to put her hand to her lips, her smile widening. It felt strange on her face, but it also felt more…right? Charlie was smiling even more when she looked at her.

“That’s a better smile on you,” Charlie giggled, reaching over to touch her face. The light touch had Vaggie leaning into it, and she closed her eye.

“I might not have had my memories, but the realization that I’ve been away from you for a full year makes me retroactively miss you. I can only imagine how you felt.”

“Every day since you left.” Charlie nodded, pressing her forehead against Vaggie’s. It was that gentle touch that had the angel just holding onto her, wings folding lazily over them to encase them in their own world. 

“I love you, Charlie.”

“I love you, too.”

It was such a sweet and tender moment that Vaggie was caught off guard by the sudden feeling of movement over her legs, and she opened the wing to peek. There staring up at her, huffing irritably from being woken up, was the little pink pig. That explained the snuffling sound from earlier.

Vaggie laughed a little and reached, lifting Fat Nuggets up. The pig didn’t even resist her; he settled down in her hold after some irritable huffing and closed his eyes again. 

“What’s he doing here?”

“He’s been keeping me company. I guess we woke him up.” Charlie smiled, putting a hand on his head as Vaggie’s wing closed to cover them again. “Poor thing.”

“Can I stay here?” Vaggie asked, peeking over at Charlie. She reached to hold Charlie’s other hand.

“I’d be more upset if you left me.” Charlie shifted, wincing a little at the tug to her injuries while she tried to adjust her position against Vaggie, her head resting on the angel’s shoulder. “Stay with me…forever, okay?”

“I plan on it this time.” Vaggie leaned her head against Charlie’s, closing her eye and smiling. 

***

The doors in the lobby slammed open, one almost being knocked off its hinges. Alastor’s ear flicked and he stood from the bar, Husk standing behind him and flaring out his own wings.

“The fuck is goin’ on?”

“I don’t know.” Alastor’s eyes narrowed a little and he reached, his microphone cane materializing as he stepped towards the intruders. As soon as they were visible, however, he almost tripped.

Two angels came barreling through the doors, one holding a limp form while the other flared out their wings. The stomping brought them further into the lobby before the male of the two rose his voice.

“We need help! This demon got hurt in a fight, and she’s really hurtin’ ba-“ He just froze when mismatched eyes met Alastor’s widening red ones.

All at once, the sound within the lobby cut out entirely. Alastor was actively staring at the angel, and his chest tightened considerably. He’d never quite felt this series of emotions before, and he hated how bad it felt. His hand curled into the front of his shirt and nearly snapped his cane in half. This wasn’t fair…it was one thing to see Vaggie, but to see him? To see…Angel…

The spider stared at him for a long time before swallowing. He stood aside and gestured, and Alastor only then noticed the bleeding, sickly looking form of Cherri Bomb in the other angel’s arms. His brows furrowed before he nodded. 

“Husk, please take Ms. Cherri Bomb with you and see what you can do for her.”

“Yeah…” Husk grunted, slipping around him to gather the demon into his arms, still bristling at the two angels. 

“Can…I come with?” the female angel asked hesitantly. Husk glanced over at Alastor, who simply nodded, and he just grunted.

“Fine. Put a spear in me and I’ll tear those pretty wings apart.”

“I won’t hurt you.” The angel held her hands up before following after Husk, leaving Alastor and Angel in the lobby alone. 

Alastor couldn’t hear anything with the way his radio filter was acting up, and he swallowed hard as he studied Angel. He had somehow…not killed his best friend, and even brought her here to help. But he wasn’t sure if he dared hope that he remembered him-

His mind didn’t even react to the movement until it was too late, and suddenly a kiss was planted firmly on his lips, Angel having grabbed him and fully dipped him. His injured wings were flared out, and Alastor stared up at them, feeling a sense of rage at the damage done. But the kiss grounded him and he looked back up to the angel before leaning into it. 

“Hey babe, didja’ miss me?”


	11. Picking Up the Pieces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very long, very shipp-y chapter and sort of a nice check in. We're over 25,000 words and 10 chapters into the story, and I wanted to do an extra long chapter of happy fluff rather than divide it into multiple chapters. It made me feel better typing all this out because this is just self-indulgent love. 
> 
> Thank you all for your continued support!

The massacre had ended, considering the chime of the clock outside. Charlie heard it and slumped back in her bed, turning her gaze over to the woman she was cuddling up against. “Hey…can you help me to the balcony?” she asked lightly. “I need to let everyone know the cleanse is over.”

“Oh is it?” Vaggie lifted her head, blinking. “I guess…we aren’t going home.”

“They didn’t come looking for you?” Charlie asked, pushing the covers off. Vaggie set Fat Nuggets down before getting up, helping Charlie over to the balcony.

“They wouldn’t. Whatever angel is too weak to be able to return to Heaven gets left behind. They don’t like weakness or dissention.” Vaggie shrugged, clearly not caring as she wrapped an arm around Charlie’s waist, draping one of her arms across her shoulders. 

Charlie limped her way over, with Vaggie’s help, to the balcony overlooking the streets. She could still see the remains of the angels that Alastor had killed, and she peeked at Vaggie to see if she would react. But she simply ignored the corpses in favor of watching Charlie, and her heart fluttered at the look she gave her. She leaned up to gently kiss her again, twitching a hand and flinging a colorful ball of flame and music into the sky. The colors ignited the clouds, and all across the city, windows and doors began to open as the denizens of Hell stepped out of the safety of their homes.

“The sounds downstairs stopped. I wonder what was going on.”

“Oh yeah.” Charlie blinked. Something had caused a ruckus downstairs, and she’d had to stop Vaggie from going after it. Alastor was there; nothing would get up the stairs to them, she was sure of that. She didn’t want Vaggie to leave her…

“I should still go see what happened. I could carry you…?”

Charlie blinked before laughing a little, dead weighting on top of her pointedly. The angel didn’t even hesitate to catch her.

“Okay. Piggy back?”

Vaggie snorted but she turned and offered her back, allowing Charlie to climb up and settle between her wings. She reached to lazily stroke the feathers, noticing the way Vaggie flinched a little.

“Are you hurt?”

“Alastor broke both of my wings, I’m pretty sure.” Vaggie sighed. “I hope they’ll heal. If there’s ONE thing I enjoy about being an angel, it’s being able to fly.”

“Oh! Could you take me flying?” Charlie’s eyes lit up, though she was still concerned by the damage to the wings themselves.

“If I can fly.” Vaggie turned her head back and smiled. She stopped to pick up Fat Nuggets to not leave him alone before heading out of the room. 

They were halfway down the stairs towards the lobby when they ran into a group rushing through the staircase, and Vaggie stopped dead in her tracks. Charlie shifted on her back and peeked around her before freezing up, eyes widening when she saw an angel chasing Husk while he carried a bleeding Cherri Bomb.

“Husk?! What happened?!”

“Cherri got hit hard. Guess the snake bastard and her got into a pretty bad fight, according to her.” He gestured over his shoulder at the angel, who had frozen to stare at Vaggie. “We got any anti-venom?”

“I think Angel had some in his room?” Charlie offered lightly. “So wait, this angel isn’t…?” She looked almost like Angel, but she had four legs?

“Huh? Nah, this is Molly I guess.” Husk grunted, gesturing for them to follow. “She and Cherri were fighting Pentious or something and she almost killed Pentious’ spider boyfriend.”

Vaggie started moving after them, and Charlie frowned as she watched him and Cherri, gripping Vaggie’s shoulders a little tighter than she meant to.

“Is he…?”

“No one knows.”

“I hope he’s okay.” Molly shook her head. Her wings were pulled tightly to her back as she ran, and her teeth worried her bottom lip. “I feel bad, you all seem to know them and are close…?”

“Ain’t true at all,” Husk grunted, shoving open a room and moving to set Cherri down on the bed. “But I guess that spider is Angel’s brother, so hopefully he’s alright or there’ll be issues.” He glanced over at Vaggie, eyeing her pointedly, before nodding. “I’m gonna’ go get the anti-venom. Angel and Alastor are still downstairs.”

“Angel’s here?” Charlie’s perked. How could they be so lucky? Vaggie and Angel, and a third angel, all ending up here? “Oh we have to go see him, Vaggie!”

“I’ll stay here with Ms. Cherri.” Molly nodded, peeking over at them. “Trust me, I won’t hurt her.”

Husk eyed her before sighing and nodding, turning to step out of the room. 

Charlie shifted, watching the way the angel sat in a chair next to the prone woman, and she tapped Vaggie’s shoulder. One look as she set her on the ground, moving to support her with one of her wings.

“Molly, right?” Charlie stepped forward, offering a bandaged hand. “My name is Charlie. I, uh…I’m the co-owner of the Hazbin Hotel.”

The angel looked surprised to even be approached, but she offered a small smile and reached forward to take the offered hand with one of her upper pair, folding her wings tightly against her back. Her gaze shifted briefly over to Vaggie before clearing her throat.

“Yes, my name is Molly. I’m afraid I sorta’…stick out here?” she offered. “Vagatha and Anthony seem to know this place…”

“Anthony?”

“Angel’s real name,” Vaggie supplied behind her. “So he’s here, too? You both defected?”

“Cherri here saved me from the snake demon.” Molly glanced down, fidgeting a little. “And then she fought to keep me safe. I couldn’t imagine just…abandonin’ or killin’ her. And then Anthony showed up while we were fightin’, and he led us here.” She nodded before offering Vaggie a smile. “So…yeah, we defected, too.”

Vaggie put her hand on her hip, adjusting her hold on Fat Nuggets before sighing, and she moved over to take Molly’s other hand to squeeze it gently. Her wing absently curled around Charlie, who leaned back against her.

“You’re welcome here as well.”

“Yeah! The more the merrier!” Charlie beamed, bouncing on her feet. “This place can be somewhere we help demons, but also maybe we can help angels? I mean…you guys give up your memories, right? So we could rehabilitate angels-“

“Not a good idea, hun.” Vaggie stopped her in her tracks. “We’re special cases. I definitely don’t think that’s a dream you should pursue.” She poked her nose and Charlie huffed before smiling.

“Fiiiine. Anyway, we should go see Angel! We’ll talk again later, okay Molly?” Charlie waved her hand before moving to climb back onto Vaggie’s back, wrapping her arms around her comfortably. She peeked back and watched at how Molly brushed Cherri’s hair out of her face before giggling a little.

“You’re such a snoop,” Vaggie teased her, peeking back and grinning.

“I’m not doing anything!” Charlie squeezed Vaggie gently, squishing her cheek against her head. “I’m just happy we have so many friends here.”

***

Husk returned with the anti-venom only a few minutes later, and he worked on administering it to the injured cyclops. Once that was done, he passed some bandages over to Molly and grunted.

“Ain’t great with injuries. Claws aren’t too precise.”

Molly blinked before smiling, and she moved to lean over Cherri. With four hands, she was quick to dress the smaller woman’s injuries. Once she was done, she settled back and let out a little breath. Her one foot was tapping nervously as she watched, up until a hand settled on her shoulder.

“She’ll be fine,” Husk grunted lightly, and she peeked over at him timidly. “That woman’s the one that blows herself off of damn roofs on a daily basis. Not a chance in Hell she’ll let some infected bite do her in.” He grabbed a bottle and set it down on the nightstand beside the bed, gesturing at it. “Not to mention she’ll love having some of the better booze from the bar.”

“You know her well?” Molly asked lightly.

“Nah.” Husk grunted, flopping down on another chair and leaning back. “She came around a bunch while Angel was here. Not a great influence, but a good friend. And she started sorta’ trying out the whole redemption bull shit, but gave up pretty quickly when Angel vanished.” He flicked his tail lazily, tilting his head to the side. “So what’s your story? You got no connection to the hotel, so there ain’t memories guiding you to not killing us. So?”

Molly shifted before reaching to hold Cherri’s hand, brows furrowing as she thought about it. That was true, she didn’t have any connection to the hotel as a whole. It left her feeling somewhat…alone?

“What I told Charlie was true?” she finally offered. “Cherri saved my afterlife. Granted, she did kill some of my squadron, but… She saved mine. And not just once, but twice.” A smile played on the corner of her lips as she squeezed the hand in her hold. “Something about her was just really…nice? She risked her afterlife to save me without even expecting anything in return. Even some angels will let others die to complete the mission. Everything about her is so…dynamic? Every emotion I’ve seen of her is to the extremes, and she’s never afraid.”

Husk was watching her as she spoke before he snorted and slumped back, reaching up to pluck off his hat and rub at his head lazily.

“You’re a unique one,” he offered before moving to stand up. “She’ll need a lotta’ rest, so make sure she doesn’t go getting herself into trouble, alright? I know it’ll be hard to hold her down, but she’s been through a lot tonight from those injuries.”

“I won’t let her move.” Molly promised, squeezing the hand in her hold before looking at the woman’s face. She smiled softly and shifted in her seat. It was almost…embarrassing to admit such emotions in front of a stranger, yet at the same time it made her feel better.

She hadn’t even realized that the hand holding hers was squeezing it back, but she did see the fluttering of the sole eyelid on the woman’s face.

“Y’two are real fuckin’ loud,” Cherri groaned absently before turning her head, peeking up at Molly and offering a smile. “Damn…do I got a guardian angel now?”

Molly looked surprised before her face ignited, and she went to pull her hand away. But Cherri’s held it in a vice grip, so she relaxed again afterwards.

“I’m hardly a guardian. You got hurt while I was around.” She chewed her lip before offering a smile. “But…I’d be willin’ to take that role if you’ll have me?”

Cherri looked at her in surprise before laughing a little, bringing her other hand to put over Molly’s, grasping her one hand in her two firmly and comfortingly. 

“Please, I don’t need protectin’. I just need someone who’s got my back.” She lifted a brow before groaning a little and letting her hands fall back to her side. “Sure, Angie’s fine as a best friend. But he ain’t got the tools I want, and I don’t got the tools he wants. I always got a little jealous of him and Al?”

Molly looked surprised. Everything Cherri did was so opposite of her. As an angel, emotions weren’t appropriate. Yet this demon just spilled her heart without hesitation or shame, and she didn’t even look embarrassed when she glanced back up to give her a little smirk.

“Plus…babe, you got a fuckin’ rockin’ bod.”

That caught her off guard, and Molly started laughing. Her wings fluffed up, and she absently adjusted her outfit.

“Okay, now I know you’re just tryin’ to flatter me.”

“No way! You got the best bust and a real nicely shaped ass.” Cherri wiggled her brow. “There’s so much I could do to ya’.”

“How are you so confident and brave to be admitting such…sinful activities?”

“Molly…my best friend is Angel Dust, who was Hell’s number one porn star of all time. Not a chance in hell did he not rub off on me somehow.”

Molly smiled at that before relaxing forward, still holding Cherri’s hand. She lightly traced the back of it with her thumb before she nodded a little.

“Maybe…that’s something we can explore?” she offered lightly. “It sounds nice to be so…openly emotional? I haven’t done that in a very long time.”

“Hell yeah! We’ll be openly emotional in every room in this hotel, babe.” Cherri laughed before settling against the bed, letting out a breath. “Thanks for savin’ me. Ya’ really are my guardian angel.”

“I was more than happy to do it.” Molly nodded her head lightly, squeezing the hand she held.

“Whelp. That image is burned into my head.” Husk grunted before pushing himself up. “Do not do anything that you’re talkin’ about. Rest up and try not to blow up this part of the hotel.”

“No promises.” Cherri just gave him the biggest grin and he glowered at her, turning his head to watch Molly.

“Keep an eye on her.”

“I will.” Molly promised, putting a hand to her chest. 

Husk grunted, muttered under his breath, and turned to step out of the room, leaving Molly to watch over Cherri. She settled in comfortably, relaxing in her chair while her mind wandered. She was thinking about that spider that she had nearly killed, and her stomach twisted a little. If he had been Anthony’s, or rather Angel’s, brother then was he related to her in some way? Her browed furrowed a little as she listened to Cherri drift off to sleep again. She hoped he was okay…

***

The ship was barely able to be run, and so many of his eggs had been destroyed. But at least the little black spider in his arms was okay. 

After his attack on Cherri Bomb, Pentious had rushed his way over to the collapsing dirigible to save his partner. It had crashed before he could slither his heavy body over to it, and he feared the worst. But as he was looking around, he made note of a few egg boys scrambling about in a panic on a lower building further away, and the black spider was resting on a pile of clothes in the middle of them.

Pentious had scooped him up carefully and slithered over to the edge of the building, frowning as he studied the wreck. He’d get lucky to get that thing airborne again… His hood slumped a little, and he just coiled up with the spider held close to his chest. At least he seemed okay?

“When I get my hands on her,” Pentious hissed under his breath, gritting his fangs together. He didn’t notice the way his body tightened around the spider on reflex, and only paused when he felt a hand on his scales.

“Pent…buddy, y’know I love bein’ wrapped up, but ya’ got one of my arms in yer coils.”

“Oh!” Pentious jerked and carefully adjusted, peeking down at the spider who was grinning up at him. “You’re okay!”

“’Course I am. Ya’ really think I’m gonna’ let my sister kill me?” He snorted, groaning as he sat up a little straighter. “Not a chance in Hell. Angel couldn’t do it, no way Molls is gonna’ succeed.”

“Your sister…?” Pentious frowned more. “Is that why you told me to cease my attack on her?”

“Yeah.” Arackniss shifted a little, sitting up. “Fuck that smarts…”

“I’m still going to kill that harlot for this.” Pentious set him down and started slithering around. He was puffing up, his sail flaring open again as he eyed his wrecked ship. “She has gone too far this time.” 

Arackniss watched him quietly for a while before running a hand through his hair, closing all eight of his eyes and sighing.

“C’mon, Pent. She’s blown up yer toys before-“

“ _THOSE_ are not what I’m concerned about!” Pentious hissed. When Arackniss blinked up at him, he furrowed his brows. “She threatened you. You could have been killed by the angel, or died in that crash.”

Now that caught the spider off guard. He stared at him in surprise before he burned a little under his fur, leaning back and stretching his injured, bandaged body out.

“…ya’ big sap. Don’t go makin’ me feel bad for gettin’ caught off guard. I’m alright, and y’know ya’ don’t wanna’ kill her.” Arackniss shook his head, elbowing him lightly with two of his arms.

“I _AM_ a demon!” Pentious hissed irritably. “I’m not some gentle soul you need to baby, Arackniss. And I will actually destroy that woman for daring to threaten you!”

“Ya’ can go back to turfin’ after all this, alright?” Arackniss scowled at him before moving over to catch his hands, pulling them around his body. “Look. I’m right here, alright? Put yer sail down. Lookit me. Relax.”

Pentious hissed at him, barring his fangs for a while. Behind him, his tail twitched a little, almost rattling from his fury. But slowly, Arackniss’ hold was working on calming him down. His lips fell back into place, covering his fangs, and his sail lowered a little. He absently sidled closer, bowing his head to bury it against Arackniss’ neck.

“I’m just…relieved you’re okay…” he mumbled absently, tail moving to curl around him protectively.

“I’m fine, Pent.” Arackniss grunted a little, but he gave the serpent one of those small smiles that made his heart flutter. “Look, I’m up and movin’. I gotta’ get over to see ‘em. No way I’m gonna’ ignore the fact that both my siblings are down here now. Ain’t seen Molls in…man, decades it feels like. I only recognized her ‘cause of her dumb hair. Ain’t no one defies gravity like that bitch.”

Pentious scoffed at the language but smiled a little. He straightened himself a little and moved to inspect the spider, watching the way he stretched out his limbs and tested the limits of his injuries.

“Well…I may be able to get the dirigible back up in the air?” he offered lightly. “But it is definitely on its last leg of life. Which is a rather silly saying considering it does not possess legs.”

“Guess it’s on its last tank’a gas or somethin’.” Arackniss exhaled as he stretched his back, rolling all six shoulders. “But it’s the best chance we got. Any clue where they’re headed?”

“The only place that comes to mind is that ridiculous hotel? They were not attempting to escape, they had a destination in mind. And that is the only place I can imagine?”

“Then we get the hunk of metal up in the sky and make our way over there. ‘Cause I ain’t interested in walkin’.” He paused when he noticed the fireworks in the sky, and he exhaled lightly. “Hey, lookit that. Guess the cleanse is over.”

“Goodness me, finally.” Pentious groaned. He reached and gently pulled Arackniss against him again. “This evening has felt like it has dragged on for an eon.”

Arackniss snorted at that, but he leaned against him. His tiny body relaxed quite nicely against the coils of Pentious’ body.

“Y’get five minutes, Pent.” Arackniss grunted. “Then ya’ better fix that damn ship.”

Pentious just scoffed lightly before he leaned down and pressed his lips against Arackniss’, lightly running a hand through his hair. He smiled when the spider leaned back against him, all six hands finding purchase on either his suit or his scales.

“Of course I will, and we will see your siblings again.” Pentious held himself up proudly, his sail opening proudly. “I will happily get you to your family. I must admit I owe Cherri Bomb an apology for biting her. I was angry and-“

“Save it for her.” Arackniss grunted. “…I can’t be mad at her, she put Molls first.”

Pentious chuckled before uncoiling himself from Arackniss and calling over the remaining few egg boys. 

“We shall get the dirigible airborne, and then we shall see your siblings!” he announced before slithering off, glowing at the way Arackniss chuckled in his directly. They just needed enough gas and stability to make it to Hazbin Hotel.

***

Anthony couldn’t believe his eyes. The red man from his memories was in front of him, and what’s more he’d allowed him to actually _kiss_ him! He was beaming away as the man straightened himself, fixing up his suit before looking at him closely.

“Angel?” He tilted his head to the side. “Is that really…? Do you have your memories of me?”

“I…” Anthony paused. Angel…he wasn’t calling him what he was, that sounded like a name? “I have some memories. I kind of just…acted on instinct when I saw ya’?” He rubbed his head before offering a grin. “But I _know_ I know you!”

The man seemed to consider that before chuckling a little, and he nodded his head. 

“Well, this is an unexpected but a delightful surprise!” His ears twitched a little before he held a hand out. “Well, to help jog your memory: the name is Alastor. It’s a pleasure to be reacquainted!”

Alastor. The name filled his chest with warmth, and his smile widened a little as he studied him. He shifted before stepping forward, reaching out to hug him. He felt the other’s arms come up, holding him firmly, and he buried his face against the neck, inhaling the familiar scent. Every ounce of worry, of fear, of desperation just washed out of him, and his body nearly dead-weighted against Alastor. 

“Mmmm...I’m so happy I found my way here,” he purred, content to just lean on him.

The door to the stairs opened, briefly shattering the peace, and he jerked up to peek around Alastor. His eyes widened when he saw Vagatha carrying another demon, and he pulled away from Alastor to step in front of him, though there didn’t seem to be any kind of threat between them.

“Vagatha? What’re ya’ doin’ here?” he asked, his wings folding back when she held one of her hands up. Her other arm was holding something pink, and his gaze settled down on it.

“I sort of…failed my mission to kill demons here, and I got bested by Alastor over there.” Vagatha started explaining, but her words fell on deaf ears. Anthony couldn’t hear anything, his eyes just locked firmly on the small pink bundle in her arms. The pink bundle that soon shifted and lifted up a pink head, with dark pink little ears, and an adorable little nose, and those little black eyes that looked at him.

Vaggie jumped back when Angel rushed her, but the pig scrambled free from her hold, landing on the ground and racing to meet him.

“THIS IS THE CUTEST BABY I’VE EVER SEEN!” Anthony practically bellowed, scooping him up. Not just any baby; the moment he was in his arms, he knew exactly who this was. “Fat Nuggets! Oh my GOSH, I missed you so much!” He forgot almost everyone else in the room in favor of just cuddling and cooing over the little pig, his smile stretching wide on his face. And the pig was equally squealing and nuzzling up to his cheek, trying to get as close to him as possible. 

Around him, Alastor approached Vagatha and Charlie, chuckling as he gestured down at him.

“I suppose we have yet another angelic guest here? That makes three of you.” He nodded firmly before looking to Charlie. “Are you okay to be standing?”

“Vaggie has been carrying me-“

“Wait, ya’ name is Vaggie?” Anthony paused, looking up at her before grinning away. “Ain’t that sorta’ close to-“

“Do not say it.” Vaggie pointed a spear at him, eye narrowing. “Do not finish that sentence or I swear I will chop that head of yours off.”

Anthony’s smile just widened into something closer to deviousness, but he held his tongue as he stood, transferring the happy piggy to his bottom set of arms and moving over to Alastor again. He wanted to be close to this red, because he knew this source of red was one of comfort. And that made him happy.

The door once again opened behind them, and the cat demon from the bar stepped forward. Anthony’s expression shifted and he cleared his throat.

“Is Cherri okay…?”

“Yeah. Found some anti-venom in your old room.” He grunted, waving a paw and padding over to the bar. “She’ll survive. Molly is keeping an eye on her, so you can relax.”

“Good.” Anthony slumped and smiled against Alastor, his wings curling around him protectively. “I’m just…glad I found ya’.”

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well.” Alastor smiled back at him. He shifted before leaning against him, a rare sign of affection that was usually limited to being behind doors. His mind knew that much, and that just made Anthony that much happier.

“What did you say my name here was?”

“Angel. Ironic, no?” Alastor reached, running his claws through the feathers of one of his wings. “Angel the angel.”

“Hmmm. I like that.” He nodded thoughtfully. “Guess I ain’t “Anthony” no more, huh? That never even felt right.”

“I’m really glad to see you back, Angel.” It was the blonde’s turn to talk, and he studied her before grinning. She was also comforting.

“Sorry, I don’t remember ya’ just yet?”

“Charlie. I, heh…well I’m the reason you even ended up away from here? And I’m sorry about that-“

“Ah don’t sweat it, toots.” Angel held a hand up before smiling away. “Look, we’re all here now, right? Ain’t no reason to get all sad.”

Charlie just smiled lightly before swaying a little, and Vaggie caught her before she could fall. 

“Let’s get you back upstairs in bed, hun,” she offered gently. Charlie lifted a hand towards Angel and Alastor, and she climbed onto Vaggie’s back to be carried away, leaving the two of them in the lobby with Husk at the bar.

Angel squeezed the little pig before glancing down at the red demon, tilting his head to the side.

“So, uh…what now?”

“Now? We relax.” Alastor gestured lightly. “How about a drink? A year of sobriety must have been quite the experience.”

Angel blinked, curiously following after him. Alcohol was not consumed in large quantities in Heaven, that much was true. But they did at least have wine? None of the bottles behind the bar looked like wine bottles, however. He settled down in the seat next to Alastor, and Husk grunted as he pulled out two glasses, setting them down and filling each.

“Guess this is one time I ain’t gonna’ charge you a good boy ticket.”

“Good boy ticket?”

“Don’t concern yourself with that,” Alastor mused before tilting his head over at Husk. “So Ms. Cherri is going to be alright?”

“Yeah, and so’s Charlie. Looks like we got out of this mess pretty unscathed.” Husk grunted. He grabbed a bottle for himself and relaxed on the other side of the bar, gesturing lightly. “We now got three angels that can’t go back, but also ain’t demons. First time it’s ever happened.”

“Isn’t it exciting?” Alastor beamed. 

Angel tilted his head as he listened to the two of them, half paying attention but mostly focusing on the happy pig in his lap. The two were talking quite casually, and it again struck him how open demons were. They weren’t afraid to just…talk about their emotions. Every form, from positive to negative and every shade in between. 

He shifted before absently putting a hand on Alastor’s leg, and Alastor glanced down before putting his own hand on top, giving Angel the smallest hint of a softer smile. It made his chest flutter pleasantly and both his wings and fur fluffed up proudly. He didn’t even care that he was now trapped down there in Hell; he was with the red man of his dreams, and a bunch of friendly demons. Not to mention the only two people in heaven that he could even remotely call friend. It made him feel so much better than he had all year, and he squeezed Fat Nuggets close to him.

He immediately regretted the next thought, as the door was blown open the moment it crossed his mind.

_What could possibly ruin this?_


	12. Stealing Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late upload! I had a chapter ready but I received feedback from my editor that there needed to be something else before the next chapter. So enjoy a chapter I'm not super happy with, but it serves the purpose it needs to for the one to come on Sunday~

The fireworks lit up the windows of the enormous, colorful tower at the heart of the Lust District. Outside, doors and windows began to open, with demons resuming their lives as if nothing had happened over the past twenty-four hours. Many were returning to work, with the stages and rooms within the Porn Studio filling up with patrons and employees. 

One was still missing, however.

Valentino hummed, his hand raking through the soft hair of one of his new, favorite pets. A chain was clasped around their throat, and they were clinging to his legs in desperation. But he paid them no mind, his eyes instead watching messages pop up onto his phone.

_/no sign of him in Pride, Val./  
/but we did find some new prizes./_

The screen filled with a picture, and Valentino’s sharp smile widened when he saw what the image entailed.

_/good work./_  
_/keep these intact and bring them home./_  
_/i have a use for them/_

Valentino snapped the phone shut and moved to stand, kicking his leg candy off of him for the time being. The chain rattled as the form stumbled back, but they were up and moving after him. And really, who was he to tell them to not? He wasn’t quite bored of this one yet. He stepped into the elevator when it arrived at his suite, and he settled back against the railing.

Music thundered throughout the building, vibrating the walls and shaking the pictures in their very frames. The elevator doors opened a few floors down, and one of the patrons and his workers tumbled in, lip locked and already half naked. He smirked, delighted to see business was already up and running, and leered over them.

“Hopefully you’re payin’ double for such a risky romp,” he growled. The patron just nodded eagerly, his hands grasping the woman’s backside and dragging her further into the make-out session. 

Despite the fervor of his employee, however, Valentino found himself growing irritated. He only hired the best of the best, but this one wasn’t _THE_ best. His claws tapped on the railing, and he was relieved when the door opened to allow the two to stumble out, leaving behind a pile of clothing. 

That wasn’t his angel.

The music began to weaken the further down the elevator went. No more had stumbled in, which was likely for the best; Valentino was already furious and antsy. His new pet had started to rub against his leg again, and he kicked it against the opposite wall with a snarl. Something that belonged to him had returned to Hell, and he still wasn’t back. Angel running away had left Valentino searching for him, furious at his insolence. The whore belonged to him and him alone.

The doors opened into the cold, stone room of the underground. His heels clicked furious against the hard surface, marching right up to the grouping of tables that filled the area. Various demons, all built large and dangerous, were meandering around playing cards, drinking, listening to much softer and more relaxed music. A few hookers wandered from table to table, but they weren’t as interested in them as their boss when Valentino entered.

“The cleanse is over,” he announced. “Which means I’ve got the resources to send more of ya’ out there. The Pride and Gluttony districts have all been scoured, and there has been no sign of dear Angel.” His grin turned even sharper and he gripped the railing. “I want every single one of you out there comin’ the streets. Call in as many as you can, remind them who is gracious enough to let them live in this distract.”

The demons all stood, moving to grab their preferred weapons. Valentino grinned as he watched, straightening and reaching to adjust his hat. The whore was not going to evade him again. He ran a hand down his face and dropped one of his lower ones, brushing his pet’s head again as he moved to settle on the couch, his preferred seat even down in the meeting room. 

As they got ready, his mind began to wander back to that chance meeting with his favorite toy. The way he had looked at him so defiantly and without recognition. Angel had always been frustratingly strong-willed, even after so many decades of work. Most of the time, his employees understood there was no escape from him, yet Angel had not only managed to escape him, but Hell as well. The first and only time someone had actually managed to break a contract. Of course, it had only been with the help of another Overlord.

His claws tightened in his pet’s head, and a low whine brought him a satisfied feeling as he remembered the look on Angel’s face when his contract went up in flames within the hand of that bastard Radio Demon.

_”Angel belongs to me now, Valentino.” Alastor’s voice was a low purr, but it was a dangerous one at that. His normal grin had twisted into that of a wicked smirk, and he adjusted his stance before the moth. Behind him, Angel was peeking out, eyes wide with hope and a sense of freedom._

_“You can’t just walk in here and decide that,” Valentino growled back, reaching out to grab the deer. But the vile shadows reared back and struck out at him when he tried to get close, and he had no choice. On his own turf, he had a lot more to lose._

_“I can, and I did. The contract was the only thing binding you to dear Angel.” Alastor tilted his head. “Why do you think I prefer deals?”_

_“You’re gonna’ to regret this, Alastor.” Valentino towered over him. But he couldn’t do anything, and that only infuriated him more. He growled out before finally stepping back, turning his gaze on Angel. “I will get him back.”_

_“I await your unsuccessful attempts.”_

Valentino had his eyes closed, his mind wandering as he replayed that moment, so he didn’t realize someone was attempting to get his attention until they put a hand on his shoulder. At which point he twitched and reached up, almost breaking it.

“S-sorry, boss!” The demon squirmed but held his hand still, watching. “You weren’t hearing me, so I thought-“

“I’m worth far too much for your grimy hands to touch.” Valentino dragged him down so they were face to face, and he relished in the fear of the demon’s eyes before letting him go. “What?”

“We found two more in the Pride district. The boys there brought them in.” The demon held his hand, making a face before looking up. “We also found someone that saw where Angel went.”

“You should have led with that.” Valentino stood and marched forward, almost choking the pet as they scampered to try and keep up. “I’m gonn’a to inspect the goods. Get the location of our dear angel cakes, and we’ll make sure the boys have a grand time tonight.”

“Can do, boss.”

Valentino hummed happily, his smoke spilling out of his coat as he walked, swirling around the demons preparing in the basement room of his tower as he made his way to the elevator. The sheer amount of excitement that he had for finally finding his target was making his heart run, and that in turn caused even more of the smoke to spill.

The new toys were quite pristine, if injured. They were awaiting him in a room halfway up the tower, already face down in enough PCP to kill an adult human multiple times over. Their heads were being held down by the demon guards that had brought them in. His smile just curled more as he watched.

“I think this time, we’ll leave those on. I might have a use for them,” he purred, reaching over to run a hand through the hair of one of the new assets. “I think they’ll be a great help in catchin’ our wayward canary.”

His smoke filled the room, swirling around the bodies there and coiling up like serpents ready to strike. His own pet was desperately tugged at the chain towards the drugs, and he yanked them back roughly while he worked on his new pets. He likely didn’t need the old one anymore, but for the time being it might be useful.

By the time the demon that had woken him up returned, Valentino was appraising his new collection. He turned his head, taking a breath from his pipe and letting it drip out of his mouth, his eyes having brightened. 

“Did you find him?”

“We did. The witness saw him head to that hotel. The…Hazbin or whatever the Hell it’s called.”

Valentino stiffened at that before growling. His form shifted and almost seemed to grow in the presence of the smoke filled room, his fangs gritting harder before he pulled out a gun. The demon’s head splattered against the wall, the torso slumping down and leaving a bright red trail down it. 

“Dammit,” Valentino hissed before turning and eyeing his pets. All of them were in various stages of making out and naked. And while Valentino absolutely wanted to further indulge in the drug induced orgy, he had to ground himself. There was a priority here, and he had a score to settle with that Radio Demon bastard that his Angel had run to.

His eyes settled on the group of writhing bodies again, and his brows lifted as he thought and considered them. He had plenty of expendable bodies, and his demons were starting to get ready. But there was something a little more useful in front of him. He left them for the time being to get acquainted with each other, and he stopped another demon at the door. 

“Our new assets, did you happen to collect any weapons from where you found them?”

“Uh…yeah, we got them waiting in the backroom? Figured we could use them?”

“Good.” Valentino nodded his head. That made him feel a little better, because that could be the answer. He straightened himself again and breathed deeply from his pipe, letting his eyes fall shut. “Get those prepared as well. I’m gonna’ speak with our new friends. I think they’ll be happy to help us, for the right price.”

He stepped back into the room and let the door shut firmly behind him. The smoke was so heavy that the window was blotted out, and the glow of his eyes and fangs shone over the group that had turned their heads up at his re-entry. 

“I think the lot of you will do quite nicely,” he purred, crouching down to inspect each.


	13. Crashing the Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not great with climaxes of stories. I've always been good for the build up, but almost every story I've started fails the moment I have to hit that climax. But don't fret, I WILL finish this story! We've got an Overlord showdown, and this might be more headcanon-y for me, but I LOVE the idea of Overlords having truly demonic, monstrous, animal-shaped demon forms. Just me?
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for the comments, views, kudos, etc. This being the first story I've published, it has given me a drive to both finish this one and to start planning for the next. I've also considered taking recommendations and requests, if that's something people would be interested in, for plots and pairings. If not, more long stories and on shots coming in the future!

Alastor immediately stood from the bar, waving a hand and slamming his cane on the ground. Considering he was just now seeing Angel for the first time in over a year, he could already feel his magic starting to boil from the interruption. Besides him, Angel passed Fat Nuggets over to Husk and stood up behind Alastor, his wings carefully flaring out despite injury.

“Who-?”

“This is where you were hidin’, huh?” That voice was familiar, and Alastor’s smile tightened around the corners, his filter already starting to spark. He also recognized the red magic that began to fill the room, swirling up pillars and hanging heavy in the air, like a miasma.

“Val…” Angel’s voice came out weakly behind him, and his body was tensing up.

“I don’t recall inviting you to our wonderful reunion,” Alastor spoke up, his voice easily carrying as if there were speakers all throughout the lobby of the hotel. “Apologies, but this is an invitation only gathering.”

“Angel cakes must’ve forgotten to send mine. No matter, I’m here anyway.”

Valentino stood in the doorway, folding his lower set of arms while his upper held his usual pipe. His wicked smile met Alastor’s bared grin and he gestured lazily. Behind him, Alastor could see a good number of Lust demons taking positions around the hotel, some beginning to shove through the doors behind the Overlord of Lust. It almost looked like he’d been up all night recruiting, and every one of them was practically choking on the red smoke that swirled around their heads. 

“I highly doubt he forgot to invite you. You simply weren’t on the list.”

“Then I invited myself, and my closest friends. After all, only a pathetic party has a few goers”

The tension was heavy between the two Overlords, with Alastor gripping his microphone cane and Valentino eyeing him with the largest grin in place as his men got into position. They all had varying weapons, from guns to spears to even some bombs. 

“You see, Angel broke his contract with me. Well, you did, but you wouldn’t have without him tellin’ you to do it.” Valentino stepped forward, his heels clicking along the ground. “And then he vanished for an entire year. Do you know how much money you cost me, darlin’?” He stopped a few yards from Alastor when the Radio Demon moved to step more firmly in front of Angel, and his smile widened. “Protectin’ a whore. How the mighty have fallen.”

“I burned the contract, fair and square.” Alastor mused pleasantly, despite the fact his eyes were starting to glow with a threat. “You no longer have a claim on him.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’m here to collect.” Valentino straightened before gesturing. “Ravage the hotel. This is now our turf, and I will stake claims on those here.”

All at once, the demons started to push forward, a group of them slamming open the stairs to ascend the stairs. Valentino himself marched forward, and his red smoke rose before rushing at Alastor, only to meet shadows that rose from the floor and walls. Their magic clashed, and the resulting force causing a gust of wind that knocked over some of the demons advancing on them.

From behind the bar, Husk had found a safe place for Fat Nuggets, and he propelled himself forward when one of the attackers threatened Alastor from the side. The cat demon knew that he would have been able to handle it himself, but the aid was appreciated. Because his focus had to be brought back to the advancing moth demon and the growing smog of smoke filling the entire hotel lobby. He couldn’t even worry about the demons spreading through the hotel like a virus; he just had to focus on the real threat. 

“Give me Angel, and I will spare everyone here.” Valentino towered over Alastor, leaning down to smirk at him. With the way the shadows and smoke had started to blot out the light, his face was dyed in shadows, with only his glowing eyes and shining fangs visible. Of course, Alastor met him with his equally ignited eyes, and an even crueler smile.

“Leave now and I will spare your assets. I can’t imagine the amount of money that you will have to spend to replace them.” Alastor leaned up on his toes and just narrows his eyes. Besides him, Husk was holding his own, spitting out curses whenever any of the demons attempted to get near Alastor or Angel. And speaking of, said angel had summoned a spear and was fighting off the demons coming at him, keeping distance from Valentino. “He is no longer yours.”

Valentino scoffed before he straightened again. The smoke poured from his coat, and it swirled around Alastor’s ankles before snapping firmly around Angel’s limbs only to be beaten back by writhing tentacles; limbs began to lift up from the ground, fall from the ceiling, and in no time the lobby looked to be a writhing mass of black, undulating and pulsing beneath the feet of everyone there, reaching to curl and grip the limbs of any and all threats. 

Shadows with no bodies pulled themselves from the masses, and a few of the demons threatening Husk were brought down when their shadows were dragged back, giving Husk room to leap onto another and shred their faces, causing blood to spill freely. The red excited both Alastor and the shadows, and his heart fluttered. 

His voice was magnified, as if every shadow and every tentacle held a speaker from which his voice could carry. The filter that normally accompanied his voice was no longer there, and it had deepened into something far darker.

“This is your last opportunity, Valentino,” he bellowed, and his voice was almost too loud for those there; Husk and Angel both covered their ears, and even Valentino swayed a little from the force. “Think carefully now. You are threatening what belongs to _ME_.”

Valentino paused for only a moment before he just chuckled. He reached up to remove his glasses, stowing them away protectively before snapping his pipe. The smoke that erupted from it made it nearly impossible to breath, and even Alastor began to sway as his mind got heavy. He didn’t have time to react when a fist collided with his cheek, and he stumbled back into Angel. His monocle hit the ground besides him, shattering.

“You might be powerful, Alastor. But you’re still a child compared to me.” Valentino towered over them before reaching to grab Angel by the hair. “I will take great pleasure in claimin’ everythin’ you own.”

Angel was shouting as he was dragged, and Alastor struggled to focus again. The smoke was making the ringing in his head that much worse, and the shouting wasn’t helping. He could hear Husk growling out at him as he fought against the demons, more of them shoving through the shattered doors. They were easily outnumbered, and that damned smoke was making everything so much worse.

The door to the stairs blew off the hinges, startling him and causing Valentino to stumble back or risk getting hit. A pile of burned limbs hit the ground with a thickening squelch, and a large pair of wings beat back the red smoke.

Molly hovered in the air, holding herself up proudly as she fought the writhing smoke back. Below her, tossing another good number of demon limbs into the pile, was Vaggie. She had her wings folded back, but her spear at the ready.

“You have more angels here?” Valentino paused, and it was that moment that Alastor needed to retaliate. A shadow tendril slammed into the moth, sending him flying back towards the front door and his demons, pushing a good number of them back outside. 

Alastor stepped over to Angel, reaching to help him up. With the arrival of the other angels, they were able to help Husk clear out the current threats within the hotel. With the smoke finally being pushed away by the large wings on Molly’s back, it was easier to think.

“Are you alright, my dear?” Alastor asked gently, holding Angel.

“Yeah, I’m…fine.” Angel leaned into him, frowning. “Couldn’t do shit after he hitcha’…sorry.”

“Do not concern yourself with me. Perhaps you should go upstairs.” Alastor helped him to his feet. When the angel started to protest, he held up a hand. “You know that vile creature, and that means you remember what he did to you. You have every right to be angry and afraid. It would be far easier if you did not face him. Instead, keep the injured safe. I will deal with him.”

“…fine. I’ll be on the stairs. None of these fucks will get past me.” Angel frowned, but he tugged Alastor forward into a quick kiss before turning to the staircase, jumping over the pile of body parts to run up.

Alastor straightened and reached to adjust his bowtie. He turned to study Husk, who was bleeding in some places but still standing. And the two angels which weren’t injured outside of what he had done to Vaggie’s wings.

“Are you good to fight?”

“I’m not going to let some asshole moth in here. This hotel belongs to Charlie.” Vaggie gripped her spear, narrowing her eye. Besides her, Molly nodded. 

“Ms. Cherri is also heavily injured and needs rest. This isn’t helping.”

“I’ll stay back, make sure none of the fucks get through the door.” Husk reached up to adjust his hat. “And if they do, hopefully Angel’s got the staircase.”

“I shall send word for Niffty to join you.” Alastor stepped over, putting a hand on Husk’s shoulder before he started walking towards the door, the angels following behind him.

Outside, Valentino had positioned himself in the street. His hat had been knocked off with the force of the tentacle slamming into him, displaying his full and bare antenna. He was smiling, but it looked even more feral than inside the hotel. Red smoke filled the area, already beginning to curl around the three defenders’ limbs despite their efforts to beat it away. Around the moth, there was a good number of demons lingering, all aiming various weapons and at the ready to fight.

“Welcome to a more fair fightin’ ground, Alastor.” Valentino opened all four arms wide. “Vox’ll be very happy when I tell him that I finally killed his rival.”

“You will have to succeed before then.” Alastor stepped forward shadows rising to meet the onslaught of smoke. “Is this all you brought? The cleanse is over, but I suppose we can do away with some more undesirable sinners.”

A wave of smoke crashed down on the three of them, pushing Alastor forward and forcing the two angels back. The moth met Alastor halfway, and his claws almost raked across Alastor’s face but a shadow tendril prevented that. The gun shot almost got him, fired when his shadow pulled back, and he barely managed to avoid it. Valentino had three guns out, and the empty hand was helping to provide more smoke in the area for his manipulation. 

Behind Alastor, the angels had leapt into the fray with the minions. Molly was wielding two spears, and Alastor caught the fluidity in her movements as she slew demons. Vaggie was grounded with her broken wings, but that didn’t stop her from her expert spear skills, felling two demons when she skewered them both.

Meanwhile, Alastor blocked another bullet and attempted to strike out at Valentino with a series of large tendrils, but the lithe moth avoided each of them. Despite the garish coat, he was quick in his movements, and deadly in his accuracy. A good shot grazed Alastor in the leg, and he grit his teeth as he leaned more heavily on his cane. 

It had been some time since his last Overlord fight. In fact, it was when he’d claimed Angel’s contract from Valentino; he had almost left his studio in ruins. But he’d had the element of surprise then. This time, Valentino had planned for that. The sheer volume of threats towards him was keeping his attention divided, his shadows separated to block shots from other demons as well as the moth himself. He was grateful for the angels as they cleared large swathes of demons, but he was struggling to hold out.

A click of a jammed barrel was like music to Alastor’s ears. He grinned and a number of shadows tendrils of variable sizes rose up around Valentino, shoving him back and slamming him into his limo. Alastor advanced towards him, grinning eagerly at the site of blood dripping down the other Overlord’s head. He smirked as he stopped in front of the moth and slammed his cane down.

“You should know that guns are hardly an effective weapon when dealing with shadows,” he mused lazily. “My shadows are infinite. Your guns can only hold so many bullets.” Though he looked like he had been successful, Valentino’s smile never faltered. And that set him on edge.

“I didn’t need my shots to land. All I needed was to get you focused on one thing.” Valentino smirked up at him, pushing himself to his feet. “Because when you’re focused on one thing, you aren’t as aware as what’s goin’ on around you.”

Alastor was still trying to put his words together when pain exploded in his chest. The spear that had pierced him was already starting to glow, and his eyes widened. His hand curled around the blade before gritting his teeth, turning to look over his shoulder. That…was definitely an angel, but it didn’t look right. The red smoke acted like shackles around their throat and wrists, and their irises were blown wide, almost engulfing their sclera. They were dressed in clothes that barely covered their bodies, almost as if they were wearing bondage equipment. The smiles on their faces were delirious, almost manic, and there didn’t seem to be any wings on their back.

The glowing started to ramp up, and Alastor grit his fangs. A shadow reared up behind the angel, ripping them away from him but leaving the spear in his chest, causing him to almost fall forward before being kicked onto his back. There, he noticed other flying figures, dressed similarly to the one that had attacked him. Six in total; four in the air, two on the ground, though his vision was blurring a little from the pain in his chest. 

Even more pain sparked through him and he hissed out when a high heeled boot kicked the shaft of the spear.

“I didn’t tell you about my new assets, did I?” Valentino smirked down at him, filling his vision. “Such a waste to throw away such useful creatures. Everyone in the afterlife has a price for their soul; angels are no different.”

Alastor growled up at him, but it tapered out when the spear was twisted in his chest, causing him to grit his fangs tighter. The radio filter was sparking wildly behind his breathing, and it almost sounded like flipping through radio channels whenever the spear shafted was moved. The pain was igniting a rage in him that started along his body, beginning to twist it. The look on Valentino’s face only enraged him further; the moth was grinning at the display of twisting changes. The spear was stuck firmly in his chest as his body grew, ripping his jacket and pants, twisting his bones, pushing his antlers higher off of his head. The force of his change pushed the moth back, and he rolled onto his hands and knees, breathing hard. Blood and saliva dripped from his open mouth, and everything in front of him had a red hue from his glowing eyes. 

His hoof slammed down on the sidewalk. He had grown taller, larger, his full demon form giving him size and mass. From the rippling red and black fur to the deer skull that now acted as his face, it gave him the support to handle the spear still lodged in his body and still be able to stand. 

Valentino let his coat flare open, and his smirk grew sharper when his own demonification began. His body twisted, elongating, forcing him onto the ground. Wings erupted from his back, though rather than feathery, they were fuzzy. Red smoke poured off of them, and it got worse when he started to buzz his wings to lift his body off the ground. 

The very presence of fully transformed Overlords had a good number of the minions scrambling out of the way, and the two angels put significant distance between them and the two demons that were soon locked in a bitter battle, with Alastor charging after the moth with a loud bellow that echoed from every speaker and radio in town. 

He didn’t even notice the figure in the window at the Hazbin Hotel. The little pink and white figure, watching his transformation and subsequent battle with shock and fear.


	14. Dance of Bullets and Spears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, my apologies! I got caught up with the new World of Warcraft prepatch and then kind of getting bummed out by the reveal of another trash human that I used to look up to. 2020's a year of taking out the filth, I guess!
> 
> Anyway, I had fun with this one. There may be more errors than usual, but I wanted to get this up. I can always go back and fix things as I or others see them.

The two beasts were leveling the street and various vehicles in the distance, but Molly couldn’t focus on that. Rather, she brought both spears up, one held with both right hands and the other with both left, to parry the attack from two of the angels. She flared her wings open and beat them back with a gust, putting distance before she charged forward.

“How can you fight for a demon like that?” she demanded, though the hypocrisy wasn’t exactly lost on her. Were they in their right state of minds, they’d probably be asking the same question. But at least she seemed like herself? More…like herself, perhaps.

Neither angel responded to her question, however. One of them shuddered a little, seeming to embrace the smoke that curled around their form. And the next attack had them ignoring the spear Molly thrust into them in favor of catching one of her left legs with his own, causing her to hiss out. While the other didn’t seem to feel the pain, she very much did. It was only her having another leg on that side that kept her from stumbling when the spear was yanked free. Her attack had had no effect, as if the angel hadn’t at all felt it. 

The other attempted to mimic the attack, but she was ready for it this time and rather than trying to impale them, she hooked the curved edge of their spear and used it to fling the angel over her head, slamming him into the ground hard. Their wings twitched and they inhaled sharply, eyes widening before glazing over again. 

Molly didn’t have time to process that before her right wing was impaled, and she stumbled forward with a loud cry. She swung her spear around, stumbling off balance with the pain in her leg, but she managed to catch the angel and push them back. Her other set of hands snapped back, parrying the strike from the angel that had been on the ground. The two of them were fighting erratically and unpredictably; it made it incredibly difficult for her to determine where they were attacking from and even how. 

“Damn,” she cursed softly, the word unusual on her tongue but not unfamiliar. Her uninjured wing flared open threateningly, and she narrowed her eyes as the three of them circled slowly. 

Just as the two were about to attack, however, the sound of shattering glass sounded above them. Molly looked up in time to see a red, spherical shape grow from the size of a spec to the size of a small stone before she realized what it was, and she jumped back with a push of her good wing in time to avoid the explosion that pushed the other two angels back. She couldn’t pinpoint the source of the bomb, but she could guess. And with the smoke clouding the angel’s vision, she took the opportunity to dive in. 

Her spear caught one of them in the chest, and she managed to shove them into the ground hard enough for the spear to impale the asphalt, pinning the angel there. She hated how they didn’t even make a sound outside of a wispy grunt from such an injury. They were really out of it.

Another explosion sounded behind her, launching the other one backwards from her. She could finally make out the shape of the smaller woman, who was supposed to be in bed yet was moving through the hotel, keeping herself hard to see or reach by any of the other various threats. The attention had Molly smiling a little, though it slipped when she was soon surrounded by a group of demons. The other angel was picking themselves up as well, and Molly gripped her spear, bracing herself on her three good legs.

The next series of bombs took out some of the competition as she leapt in, dodging a few shots from the guns pointed at her and taking the time to decapitate or dismember with her spear rather than exorcising. She didn’t have time to burn away their souls, not when there were so many. And not when the angel forced her to parry an attack from them only for her to get shot through her side. No matter how many she took down, no matter how much she fought off the other angel, she was starting to slow down. And her little guardian demon didn’t have an endless supply of bombs. 

There was a loud droning noise above her somewhere, and it seemed to get louder and louder as the fighting continued. Molly grit her teeth, trying to ignore it and the pain in her body. Another spear jab attempted to impale her, and she just barely managed to parry it, her bad leg giving out a little. She had to use her spear to support herself, and the angel she was fighting took that opportunity to charge her. She attempted to bring her spear up to parry them, but she accidentally put too much weight on her bad leg. The resulting pain had her stumbling, and the other angel tackled her to the ground. The spear flew from her hand and it clattered on the ground a distance away.

Molly grit her teeth hard when the spear impaled her other wing, and she glared up at the delirious smile looming over her. The angel’s pupils looked more like dark pits, and there lacked almost any sentience in them. They shuddered on top of her before rumbling, and to her discomfort their hands were brushing over her fur, fingers trailing smokes along her arms and to her chest.

“Excuse me! Get ya’ hands off me!” Molly snapped, her lower set of arms reaching to shove at them, but the angel just pushed her down more. And her wing kept her stuck in place, not giving her a lot of options to get free. The demons had surrounded them, and many were chuckling and talking amongst themselves. The words she caught here repulsive; so many seemed fond of angelic bodies, and hers was “absolutely fuckable.” Barbaric words…

A bomb landed close to her feet and it went off almost immediately. To her surprise, rather than a fiery explosive death, the bomb instead spilled a bunch of smoke into the air, completely engulfing the area and shielding them from the view of the surrounding demons. She coughed, her free wing attempting to block the smoke and also trying to force the other angel back. 

Out of the smoke, what sounded like chains looped around the angel’s body, and they were ripped off of her before being slammed into the ground with a grunt, followed by a low groan. The sound had Molly shuddering in revulsion, but she didn’t have time to focus on that. A clawed hand reached, ripping the spear from her wing and causing her to let out a strangled cry and to almost bite her tongue.

“My apologies for that. And for enjoying it.”

The voice was familiar? Molly looked surprised. She squinted through the smoke, trying to see the large form in front of her. She could just barely make out the flared out sail and legless body, and she tensed a little before scrambling away.

“You’re that serpent-“

“Yes, yes. And you can be wary of me all you want. I don’t trust you myself, but we hardly have the time to bicker.” He helped her up. “It would be a very good idea to put distance between ourselves and this location as quickly as possible.”

“Why…?” Molly frowned, still watching him. 

“In very little time, this location of the city is going to be a fiery pit of destruction. And I for one rather enjoy being un-alive and in one piece.”

Molly stared at him, stumbling a little as he began to drag her along. He wasn’t biting her and injecting her with venom, so surely that was reason enough at least for the moment to trust his words? He seemed to have a good sense of direction to escape the smoke, because they ended up further down the street from where a bulk of the fighting was going on. She could still make out the two giant monsters in the distance, with the moth filling the area with more of his red smoke while the enormous shadow tendrils worked on attempting to grab and subdue him, but she couldn’t see much else between the various colors of smoke. 

That loud drone from before was practically deafening, however.

“What about the other angel?” she shouted.

“A bit tied up, I’m afraid,” he responded loudly. His gaze shifted up and he dragged her over against the building, getting them out of the way as a shadow loomed overhead. 

Molly’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open, watching the giant aircraft lose attitude rapidly towards the group of demons and the smoke-filled area. It might have been a trick of the wind, but she swore she could hear a voice shouting furiously as it careened towards the ground.

“GET YER HANDS OFF MY FUCKING SISTER YOU SICK FUCK.”

***

Arackniss scowled as he leaned forward against the railing, watching as the buildings parted ways to reveal the hotel in the distance. His eyes widened a little when he saw the large demons fighting near it, and his grip on the rail tightened.

“Looks like Al and Val are goin’ strong,” Arackniss mumbled absently. “Gonna’ hafta’ be careful around them.”

“I recommend that we avoid that area. Perhaps we can find a place to settle down that would be safer?” 

“Dunno’ if anywhere’s safe near ‘em. But we might need ta’ help some folks out.” Arackniss stepped away, limping a little as he walked down to the bottom of the main cabin. Pentious had patched up the holes in the glass with what honestly looked more like bandages than the “Super High Adhesive Repair Kits” he had described, but it seemed to work. 

As the ship traveled over the final building, he couldn’t help but stare. Below him, he could just make out the angel he was sure was his sister fighting against two others, and she was surrounded by a large number of demons with a host of different weapons. 

“Looks like there’s more goin’ on than just an Overlord turf.” He scowled, trying to scope out the whole thing.

Beyond where Molly was fighting, he saw another angel fight closer to the hotel. One against two, much like Molly, with some more circling overhead. He didn’t know what was going on with their fight, and why they were even still here considering the cleanse had ended, but there wasn’t a lot of time for him to question that right now. It was easy enough to pinpoint who was an ally, and who was an enemy. 

An explosion went off with enough force that the dirigible shuddered, and alarms started blaring behind him. It hadn’t struck them, but he knew who had explosives with that kind of force. He looked up towards the hotel, barely spotting another bomb being chucked from the roof. Molly and Cherri were both here, then.

“Looks like we got a change of plan.” Arackniss glanced back. “Pent, lemme control the ship. I needja’ to go down there and get Molls out. I’d do it myself, but I’m pretty beat up. No chance I can drag her out of she needs it.”

Pentious eyed him before huffing. 

“And what are you going to do, huh? You hardly have the delicate maneuverability required to pilot such an amazing creation-“

“Pent, I drive yer shit all the time. It ain’t like I’m gonna’ scratch it more; I already shot a few holes in it today.” Arackniss turned to limp back over to the console and paused. Another bomb had gone off, but this one was all smoke. Even still, the turbines that kept the craft up jostled some of the smoke. And he saw the way one of the angels had pinned Molly to the ground, with both of his hands on her chest.

All at once, he saw red. He growled and turned, walking over to the console. 

“Get yer scaly ass down there and get Molly _NOW_ ,” he snapped, grabbing the controls. Pentious wanted to argue, but he saw the red glint in Arackniss’ eyes. He nodded quickly and slithered over to the exit. 

“What are you going to do?”

“Just make sure none of ya’ are in the area.” Arackniss tugged the controls, pulling the dirigible around so that they could circle back towards the area. “Ya ain’t got much time. And if you can do me a favor, chain up any angels ya’ see that ain’t Molls.”

Pentious frowned before nodding, and he opened the door to leap from the aircraft. Arackniss didn’t have to worry about him, considering he always had measures in place to ensure his safety around his machines. Instead, his mind was very focused on the image burned into his mind, and he forced the ship to make a sharp turn that the blaring alarms warned would cause the ship to lose control. He ignored it, all six hands being used to force the craft to turn at his command.

He really didn’t give them a whole lot of time. Of course, the ship didn’t, either. He pointed it towards the heart of the smoke, fangs baring into a grin as it swirled around the turbines that were spilling dark smoke themselves. 

The vessel was collapsing rapidly, and the alarms were blaring even louder. A few sparks lit up the console in front of Arackniss, and he pulled back. No way to stop it now. He grabbed a nearby pack and slipped it on before climbing up one of the walls, a hand to the injury in his chest that started bleeding again. He did his best to ignore it as he climbed through a crack in the top of the glass of the dirigible’s front, making sure the pack was securely on his back. The wind whipped and howled around him, and he was grateful again for the hairs on his hands and feet that kept him attached to the aircraft.

With one final look towards where it was crashing, Arackniss opened his mouth and shouted into the wind. But his words were carried far from him, and he used his legs to propel himself up into the air away from the craft, quickly yanking the parachute open. The force jerked him around a little bit, driving him to grit his teeth when it tugged at his already reopened wound. 

The force of the explosion caused the smoke to dissipate near instantly, and the burst of wind carried his parachute back. He clung to the straps, squeezing his eyes shut. He ended up being pushed into a soft chest, and a pair of arms wrapped around him before carrying him down to the ground, the parachute being cut from him so the wind couldn’t pull against the landing. 

The two of them hit the ground heavily, with Molly letting out a pained sound from the holes in her wings. Meanwhile, Arackniss was carefully scooped up into two strong arms

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SHIP?!”

“It was goin’ down anyway.” Arackniss grunted lightly, leaning into the hold before shifting. His gaze landed on Molly, and he hopped down from Pentious’ arms to limp over. “…hey.”

Molly stared at him for a long time before she stood, absently brushing herself off. She fixed him with a look.

“Did ya’ really try and drop a ship on my head? I coulda’ died!”

“Ya’ told me ya’ didn’t wanna’ be babied, Molls. So I didn’t baby ya’. Would drop ten ships on Tony’s head. _AND_ ya’ almost killed me before, so fair’s fair!”

She puffed up before deflating a little, and she started laughing. Her arms reached out, scooping him up to hold carefully.

“I remember ya’…Archie…” She leaned against him, letting her eyes fall shut.

“Good.” Arackniss snorted at the use of his old name but was happy to lean against her. It felt…nice to see his sister again? She clearly hadn’t ended up in Hell with the rest of them, or she had somehow found redemption before they had ever met up again. But now she was here…

“While I hate to cut this reunion short, we hardly have the time to enjoy this.” Pentious put his hand on their shoulders before pointing.

Despite the large crash having taken out for sure the one angel in there, and the surrounding demons, there were still more. And one angel still flying around overhead, clearly preparing to dive down at them. Arackniss grunted and disengaged himself from Molly, manifesting a couple pistols.

“Ya’ got any spears left?”

“Not on me.”

“Remember how ta’ shoot?” He flipped two guns over and held out the butts towards her. She eyed them, hesitantly reaching to hold them in her hands, and absently weighed them. At first, she looked uncomfortable, and Arackniss almost took them back. But she soon spun them lazily, expertly flipping both safeties off and cocking them.

“Bet I can kill more than you.”

“Oh you’re on.”


	15. The Beauty Beneath the Beast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took me so long to write, and it started changing as I wrote it which didn't help. I'm awful at writing action sequences and am most comfortable with dialogue scenes, so this one might read a little rough. But I still had a lot of fun with it because I got to have some characters interact with each other that haven't as much before this chapter. Hopefully you all enjoy it, too!

The crashing dirigible blew away the red smoke that had permeated the area, and it gave Vaggie some breathing room where she was able to break away from the two angels she had been fighting. Having initially overcome the horror and disgust of seeing how their wings had been cleaved from their bodies, she had had to take on both of them without the use of her own. And they didn’t hesitate to team up on her, doing their best to charge her from various angles when she was focused on only one direction. The result had her bleeding from various cuts and lacerations along her body, but she’d gotten a good jab at each of them.

With the brief respite, she stumbled back closer to the hotel, turning to watch a few more demons try to push themselves through the door. For the most part, it looked like the hotel was okay; there hadn’t been any signs of the others being in any danger, and she could just make out Husk’s angry shouting whenever a glass bottle shattered inside from a stray bullet. So long as Charlie was safe, it would be okay.

Metal clanged loudly when a spear attempted to strike down at her, and she brought her own up to deflect it. Her attention shifted back to the grinning demon that bore down on her, and she bared her teeth in a grimace back.

“At least I fell for someone worth it. Not to some bullshit, overstuffed, pompous dog toy,” Vaggie sneered, shoving them back and stepping forward, despite the blood running down her gown. 

The angel didn’t react much, tilting their head and just smiling that delirious smile. That red smoke was beginning to pour from the wings of the massive moth nearby, and it was heavy around the hotel where a bulk of the demons still were. She had to hope that she saw the ranks thinning because she had no idea how the Hell they were supposed to continue holding out while Alastor was otherwise preoccupied by the Overlord turf nearby.

As if reading her mind, a cascade of musical flames crashed down around a group of the demons out on the streets, causing those who didn’t burn up to stumble backwards. Her eye widened and she turned to glance up.

Standing on her balcony, her horns piercing through her messy hair and eyes glowing scarlet, Charlie stretched out her hand to call down another rain of fiery notes. Though not fully changed into her demon form, her magic was fighting back the smoke from the Lust Overlord without issue. 

“Dammit, you should be resting,” Vaggie growled out, but she refocused on the second angel that had almost gotten a good jab at her wing as she was distracted. Her spear parried the other spear, and she managed to get a good kick into their stomach to push them back. She felt a heat slam down behind her, and she turned in time to see the first angel twitching and writhing, attempting to beat the fire that had embraced their body.

“I’m watching, don’t worry.” Charlie’s voice floated down to Vaggie, and she offered a little smile as she leapt herself back into the fray with the remaining angel. Their spears clashed against each other, though it was drowned out between the roaring flames, hailstorm of bullets, and the static roars of the deer demon slamming the moth onto the ground, fighting off the suffocating smoke that was filling his body. 

Vaggie finally got a good hit in, impaling the angel’s torso with her spear. But it got stuck when the barbed tip got hooked around the angel’s spinal column, causing it to be ripped from her grasp when the angel tumbled. In mere moments, one of the flying angels had swooped down, and she was barely able to prevent the spear from catching her chest. However, it did tear through feathers and impaled the side of her body. 

A pain-fueled, furious shout escaped her open mouth when she was slammed onto the ground, the spear breaking asphalt to hold her in place, and the angel landed so heavily on her stomach that all of the breath was pushed out of her. Her vision blacked out for a moment, and when it came to the angel was grinning down at her, twisting the spear a little into her side and making more black spots appear in her gaze. It hurt, the pain was enough to make her tear up and her ears start to ring. 

The explosion of fuzzy, musical flames behind the angel’s head was the most beautiful thing Vaggie had ever witnessed, especially because it pushed the bastard off of her and gave her the opportunity to suck in a deep, painful breath. She tried to roll onto her side, but realized that the spear was still impaled through her and into the road beneath, making her grind her teeth together. 

“Vaggie!” The voice almost sounded like it was underwater, the ringing and muffled sound barely reaching her the first few times her name was shouted. She tried to open her eye and squint, but it was difficult to focus on anything. 

Pain shot through Vaggie’s body when the spear was ripped free, and her eye snapped open. She had the perfect vantage point as the angel ascended, wings open and carrying the angel up the side of the hotel and towards the balcony where the blonde demon was standing. On instinct, she tried to open her wings to take off after them, but she let out a frustrated and pained gasped when she moved and more blood flowed freely from her injuries, beginning to stain her feathers. Still, she fought against the pain in an attempt to go after the angel aiming to take the one thing away from her that she had found that made her truly happy.

Charlie’s surprised cry brought Vaggie’s eye back up, searching frantically for her, but the two figures had vanished back into the hotel room. Her heart was racing in her chest, and she finally managed to right herself only for the angel she had lost her spear inside of to grab her. It became a full on brawl in her desperation to get to the hotel, her hands leaving angry, bloody lines across the angel’s face and arms. 

An explosion erupted from inside of the room where Charlie had been standing, the balcony and a good chunk of the wall shooting out across the city and almost clipping the moth that had pinned the deer against a wall with his superior number of limbs. The room within was practically engulfed in flames, and a form soon fell to the ground.

Vaggie managed to push the other angel down, and she stared at the form that slammed down beside the two of them. It was the angel, or what was left of them. Their body has been burned almost beyond recognition, with the bondage outfit reduced to ash on their body. Their face had lost that smile, and every visible extremity from their eyes to their tongue had been burned from their body. It looked almost like the angel had been cremated alive. 

Above, Charlie stood in the belly of the inferno. She was panting, more of her demon form poking through in the way her hair was wild and unkempt, turning more into a mane along her hunching back. She had more of a snout, with rows of sharp fangs in her tightly held grimace. Her eyes were glowing scarlet when they locked onto Vaggie’s, and she shifted a little before fire rose up, raining down on Vaggie’s head.

At first, Vaggie truly believed that she was being burned alive like the other angel. Instead, the one that had been wrestling with her was soon writhing in pain. The flames surrounded the two of them, but while they gently stroked and danced along Vaggie’s limbs, they seared the very flesh from the other angel’s bones. It was almost horrifying to watch if not for the beauty of it that seemed to help ease the pain from her body. She could almost block out the screams as she reached, touching the flames and listening to the light sound that seemed to thrum from the crackling and popping of each spark.

“Vaggie…? Are you alright?” Charlie’s voice was closer now, and Vaggie turned to look up. The blonde was holding a bandaged hand out to her, and her body automatically took it. It had been a long time since she had seen this side of Charlie, and the form was somehow equally terrifying as it was comforting.

“I’m fine. YOU should be in bed,” Vaggie huffed, poking her cheeks. “Why did you come down? You can’t hold this form.”

“I can long enough to give you time to get back up,” Charlie argued, pouting at her. “You got stabbed…”

“I’m alright.” Vaggie paused, putting a hand to her side. Her skin felt…better down there, too. And the wound wasn’t bleeding as badly. “We need to get you back inside. It isn’t safe out here.”

Charlie nodded, and the two made their way to the front entrance, where Vaggie was able to tear through the demons and slam the door shut for a few brief moments of respite. Vaggie took the time to shove some furniture against the front to slow down any attack for the time being. 

Inside of the lobby, Husk was leaning against the bar, a demons skull having been cracked open on the side of it with the body still slumped over the surface. The cat was drinking directly from one of his higher quality alcohol bottles, tail twitching irritably.

“Looks like the flow of demons is startin’ to slow down,” he offered. He looked roughed up, with what looked like a broken arm and a few bullet holes through his wings. For the most part, though, he was fine.

And zipping around the lobby, already attempting to clean up, was the shorter demon girl. Niffty was covered in blood, but she seemed to lack any injuries. The demons that had been felled by her hand were already neatly piled up in the corner, their wounds stitched shut with expert needle skills to prevent any blood from leaking.

“This place is so messy. It’s going to take forever to clean after this,” she bemoaned, rushing to the two girls to start cleaning after the blood and ash left in their wake. “Is it at least almost over?”

“Not yet.” Vaggie settled heavily down onto the couch with Charlie. “The demon meatheads are thinning out, but Valentino is still out there. It doesn’t look like that fight will end anytime soon. I don’t know if all the angels are gone, either.” She flinched a little, thinking to the states they had been in.

“Speaking of, has Angel come down?” Charlie asked. Her form was back to being mundane looking, though her horns were still poking through her hair. The fighting wasn’t over, they just had a chance to breathe.

“No.” Niffty shook her head. “He WAS protecting you and Cherri, though I guess you’re down here now… How did you get down here anyway?”

“The knucklehead jumped from her room when she shot her balcony off the side of the hotel, I’m pretty sure.” Vaggie made a face at Charlie, who just offered a smile. 

“I had to make sure you were okay! Besides, I’m built a lot stronger than I look.” Charlie pumped a fist, but Vaggie just patted the top of it lightly.

“I’m going to check in on Angel and Cherri then. You should go somewhere safe; you don’t look to be in any condition to fight.”

“No one is. Besides, this is my hotel.” Charlie caught Vaggie’s hands, and they briefly exchanged a forehead nuzzle that had the angel relaxing a little more. “I have to help protect it, and those inside of it.”

Vaggie sighed a little. She studied Charlie closely before pulling her into a quick little kiss. If that was what she wanted, than who was she to argue? She would do the exact same thing.

“Husk, Niffty, are you two still able to fight?”

“Yeah?”

“Yep!”

“Good. I’ll be back down as soon as I know that Angel and Cherri are alright.” She stood up and made her way over to the stairs, working up through the hotel. 

The staircase had more demon bodies in it; some had been clearly clawed up by Husk, others bore the burned limbs of soul exorcism from an angel’s spear. It didn’t seem like many had made it past the landing or the first few floors, and Vaggie managed to leave the last one behind by the time she found Cherri’s floor. 

Her room was empty, but there wasn’t any signs of struggles, so that at least settled Vaggie’s concerns that something had happened. She scanned the floor, making note of a few windows that had been broken open from the inside, before she started to the next level. She didn’t exactly have time to search each floor, so the sound of a bomb going off gave her a general direction to go. And she found the cyclopean woman a few stories up, tossing yet another bomb through a broken window into the crowd below. 

“We’re going to have to charge you for those broken windows.”

“I should get a discount fer helpin’ ya’ defend the place.” Cherri didn’t even skip a beat, responding with a lazy grin. The interaction felt so natural for Vaggie, and she met the grin with a smirk.

“Not if you’re the one destroying it.” She crossed over to peer down into the streets besides the demon, watching the two spiders – Molly and Arackniss, by the looks of it – firing into the crowds of minions. Vaggie had been right before; the demons were thinning out, most of them focused on the three still in the street rather than storming the hotel. Despite everyone’s injuries, the threats had clearly been unable to focus easily enough to actually fight properly. 

“Eh, once this is all over, we can talk price, Vags.” Cherri leaned back. “I’m outta’ bombs now, so hopefully Molls, Nissy, and Pent can take care of themselves.” She slid to the ground and groaned, closing her eye and holding her arm. “How’re things on yer end?”

“Husk and Niffty stopped a majority of the demons from getting inside of the hotel, and it looks like Angel dealt with any that got past them.” Vaggie crouched, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We should get you back into a bed.”

“Wanna’ take me out first?” Cherri teased, but she accepted the help up and leaned heavily on Vaggie. Her body was more or less just giving out, turning into dead weight on the angel’s shoulders.

“Nice try. Maybe we can all go out for iced coffee after this nightmare is over.” Vaggie carried her to the staircase, careful with the steps, and brought her down to one of the rooms on the ground floor. Given the fighting outside, it likely wasn’t a good idea to have anyone on the upper levels in case the building started to collapse. 

Once in the room, she carefully laid Cherri out and checked over her body, making note of a few injuries that had split open from the exertion. Thankfully, none of them seemed anywhere close to fatal.

“Rest up. Have you seen Angel?”

“I think I saw him run past to the roof,” Cherri offered. “He was watchin’ Al and Val fightin’ out there. Looked kinda’ spooked.”

Vaggie frowned before nodding. She got back up and waved to Cherri before making her way towards the roof of the building. Given the state Angel’s wings had been in, it likely wasn’t ideal for him to be that far up off the ground just in case something happened. Her own tucked tightly behind her as she walked, and she reached back to tug one of her own wings around herself.

As she neared the roof, she could hear Angel’s voice. He sounded angry, like he was shouting at someone, but she couldn’t quite pick out what was going on. And then there was the sound of a body hitting the side of the building, and Vaggie picked up her pace to open the door.

One of the angels from before, one that still had wings, had slammed Angel against the structure that connected to the staircase Vaggie had just ascended. They still wore the same smile as the others, but this one was a lot more focused on hurting Angel. The grin appeared to be more feral, and they attempted to rip a chunk of feathers from Angel’s already damaged wings.

Vaggie charged the angel from the side, knocking them to the ground and pinning them. She heard Angel slump down behind her, but she focused on getting the angel wrestled down. 

“Ya’ didn’t have to get involved,” Angel’s voice rasped a little, and he was rubbing his throat from where the spear handle had pressed against his esophagus. 

“Yeah, you definitely had it under control, didn’t you?” she retorted. The angel beneath her bucked, and suddenly she was pushed off when they got their knees against her gut, and she ended up slamming into Angel’s chest, causing them both to stumble back. The angel pushed themself up and flared their wings out, laughing a little at their display when they opened their damaged wings out in response.

The three of them circled, with the angel brandishing two spears. One was likely Angel’s, given that he was currently lacking one. And she’d used the last of the ones she had throughout the night already. 

Angel was the first to move. He charged the angel with a hiss that sounded animalistic. Despite the spears aiming to impale him, his lithe body slipped around them and managed to shove the angel forward and off balance. Seeing the opportunity, Vaggie moved forward to bring her knee up into their gut, grabbing for one of the spears and tugging it from their grasp. When they attempted to wheel around and strike at her, Angel’s foot slammed into the back of their knee. An audible snap echoed over the rooftop, and the angel stumbled forward with a strange mix of a pleasurable groan and a loud hiss.

Vaggie made a face before brandishing the spear forward, her strike being parried by the other spear still in the angle’s hold. The two angels danced with their weapons for a time, but the enemy angel only had one pair of hands. And that was currently busy with the spear, giving Angel ample opportunity to come up behind the angel and grab them with all six hands, pinning them firmly. Though Vaggie could tell he wasn’t fond of the idea, because neither was she, he still nodded his head at her. She understood the sign well enough, and the spear impaled the angel’s chest. Their body slumped in Angel’s hold, and he merely dropped them to the ground.

“I don’t see anyone else flyin’ around.” Angel turned to look, though his eyes wandered back to the two Overlords still fighting each other. The deer had gotten the upper hand again, but the moth had left horrible, gaping wounds along his pelt. “…I kinda’ forgot that Al could really look like that.”

Vaggie followed his gaze. Admittedly, she was also terrified of the Overlords. Not just because she remembered what it was like before when they had been in Hell, but because as angels this had been what they were told demons were. And Alastor and Valentino were really showing that off, their enormous bodies making quick work of large sections of the city. The only reason the hotel was even still standing was because of the shadows that curled up around the two anytime the moth attempted to bring the fight close enough to risk the structure.

Still, she also remembered enough of before to recall seeing the ridiculous smile of the Radio Demon, especially when he and Angel started spending more time together. It was silly to consider the monstrous demon as someone mundane and caring, yet that was exactly what he had become with Angel. As if the spider had somehow brought out a part of him that had almost been snuffed out.

“So?” Vaggie finally responded, looking up to meet his gaze. “Does it matter?”

“I…” Angel paused. “I don’t remember everythin’. And seein’ somethin’ like _this_ kinda’ reminds me of…well, y’know. Heaven.”

“And what they told us. Yeah.” Vaggie snorted before elbowing him. “So what? You came looking for the bastard, right? Are you going to let the fact he’s gone full demon to protect everyone mess with the memories that brought you here?”

Angel stiffened besides her, and he just snorted a little as he turned to really look at her.

“The Hell does that mean? Of course I still wanna’ be here. I just…ugh, not everythin’ came back. So seein’ him out there like that just kinda’…I dunno’ how to describe it.”

“…when I saw Charlie turn into a full demon, or I guess partial since I still don’t think I’ve seen her do that since I returned here, I felt the same.” Vaggie leaned against the edge of the roof, watching the behemoths fight. “I guess the teachings and conditionings from before came back. Demons are bad, they look and act like feral beasts that need to be put down, blah blah blah. Remember the old man preaching that?”

“Yeah,” Angel snorted before attempting to mimic him. “’Demons are evil incarnate, they must be purged from the universe. That is your one, sacred duty. I’m not at all fun at parties.”” That got a laugh out of Vaggie, and she shook her head. 

“Yeah. The guy probably had a stick up his ass that we could see if he yawned. But then I held Charlie in my arms, and we talked. And I realized…the fucks up in Heaven? Yeah, they’re probably right about some demons, and there’s the overpopulation of Hell issue going on. But they’re wrong about some of them, too. There are demons that are the sweetest, kindest, most gentle beings in the entire universe.”

She hadn’t realized how off tangent she had gotten while thinking about Charlie until Angel started laughing besides her, and she narrowed her eye up at him.

“That’s fuckin’ gay, doll,” Angel teased her, using her head as an arm rest. 

“Oh look who’s talking!”

He was still laughing, but Vaggie could see the tension start to leave his body as he pondered her words. For all the bravado he put up, she could still read his body like an open book.

“You’re right. Al might look like some crazy monster right now, but he’s still the same Al with the stupid little deer tail and ears, and that handsome face, and that huge, throbbing cock to shove down my throat-“

“Focus on the cuteness, don’t make it weird,” Vaggie begged, pushing his arm off her head.

“Wuss.” Angel just grinned before relaxing. “Then I’m gonna’ go out there and make sure Al comes back in one piece, and I’m gonna’ kiss him ‘till he passes the fuck out.” He held himself tall before giving her one of his rare, gentle smile. “Thanks, doll.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just try not to make him panic with all your sex talk.” Vaggie waved a hand, but she gave him a smile in return. “Now get out there and help your Bambi.”

Angel laughed. He took the spear that she offered to him and opened his wings up. Despite the injuries to them, he managed to glide off of the edge of the building, landing on one of the roofs across the street. Vaggie leaned against the side, brows furrowing a little in thought as she watched the Overlords. Hopefully all of this would turn out well...


	16. Facing the Demons of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This'll be the first time I actually complete a climax in a story. I'm awful at these, and this may be the last more adventurous idea that I post for a while as a result. Dialogue is my strongest area, but it's best that I learn to branch out! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I can't tell if the chapters are maintaining the same quality or getting worse; hopefully it's the former!

Angel settled down on the roof of a building, watching the two demons clash against each other. The two of them were bloodied, with Alastor favoring one of his legs and Valentino being unable to take to the sky due to a damaged right wing. But that didn’t stop him from latching onto Alastor, claws digging into the red pelt and dragging him to the street.

From his vantage point, it looked like Alastor was starting to slow down, and badly. That spear was still lodged in his chest, spraying blood with more and more of his movements. Angel chewed his lip, uncertain about getting involved. Even after speaking with Vaggie, the way that Alastor looked was making him feel uneasy. He knew that was his partner, his Radio Demon, but he still couldn’t stop the fear creeping up his neck. 

A particularly loud roar from the deer had him snapping out of his own mental space, and he watched the moth shove the Alastor down onto the ground, twisting the angelic spear in an attempt to shove it into the exposed organs. It was all Alastor could do to keep the point away from those most fragile of places.

Angel was acting more on instinct than rational thought. His wings screamed at him as he stretched out the injuries in them, and his heart was racing as he watched the two. They dwarfed him in size but that didn’t stop him from jamming the spear into Valentino’s back, causing him to rear back with a snarl and whip around. Solid red eyes narrowed as they appraised him, but that yellow grin split open his face when he saw the little form. They parted, revealing a long tongue that flicked out of the gaping maw, tasting the blood in the air between the deer beneath him and his own injuries.

“Ahhhh, Angel,” he purred. His voice wasn’t coming directly from his mouth, but rather Angel could hear it fill his mind just as the smoke did. He wasn’t even sure if Valentino was actually speaking to him, but his voice sounded as clear as day. “My dear, sweet angel cakes. So glad you decided to come and help me.” He loomed over Angel, and for a brief moment Angel took a hesitant step back before holding his ground. His wings flared open and he narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not here to help ya’, Val,” he stated firmly. “I’m here to stop ya’ from hurtin’ Alastor anymore. I’m not afraid of ya’ anymore.” 

The way he spoke seemed to frustrate the moth. Valentino scowled and turned away from the prone form of Alastor, turning to fully face him. Angel was reminded of how large Valentino was when one of his hands pressed into the ground beneath him, allowing the moth to lean forward over him.

“I would reconsider that, darling.” Valentino held his three other hands out over him, and his good wing flared out. That red smoke began pouring free from the patterns along it, curling down his body and reaching towards Angel, as if attempting to pull him in. He could feel his lungs constrict with the sheer amount of it in the air. “I’m not going to lose here. I’ll simply come back with Vox and Velvet next time.”

Angel grit his teeth, doing his best to clear out the smoke around him with his wings, despite how badly it ached to move them. It almost felt like it was beginning to invade his mind again, but he did his best to focus on the sea of red behind him.

“Fuck you, Val!” Angel shouted, coughing into his hand. 

“That can be arranged. Especially now that I see you’ve killed all of my new pets.” Valentino purred. “Remember when ya’ made Daddy so happy? He’d give ya’ so many good rewards.” 

Perhaps it was because of the smoke, or it could have been problems with his memories still, but Angel’s vision blurred somewhat. The image of the demonic moth seemed to swim in and out of focus, but those eyes and that smile remained as strong and steady as ever. 

It was those same eyes that he saw when he realized he was in his studio. Angel whipped around, eyes searching frantically for something that would ground him. He realized he also no longer had his wings when he turned around and almost stumbled due to the lack of weight. 

“Oh angel cakes, is something wrong?” Valentino’s voice purred around him, and he slowly turned to look back. His brain was catching up to him, realizing that he was on his knees. On the table in front of him were rows of white powder.

“I-I…” Angel was breathing hard, still frantically looking around. This was…real? Was he really there? It was difficult to think, all of the red smoke swirling around him, threatening to consume him. But it was hard to argue with the very real feeling of the table in front of him, of the hand reaching to stroke his hair lazily. The nice touch, the one Daddy used whenever he was so proud of him. 

Had it all just been a PCP trip…?

“Sorry, Val. I’m not…feelin’ so hot? I wanna’ go lay down.” Angel sat back and put a hand to his head, shaking it a little. But the fingers lightly stroking his scalp tightened somewhat, and momentary fear caused his heart to clench.

“Now, Angel, you don’t wanna’ make me angry do ya’?” Valentino’s voice was so loud, Angel wanted to cover the sides of his head to reduce the volume. But he didn’t want to upset the Overlord… He kept his body in place, but he forced a sweet smile and let his accent come on thick.

“Please, mista’ Valentino?” he asked softly. “I’ll be good for ya’, promise. Just need to lay down a bit and clear my head.”

“Why don’t ya’ enjoy some more dust?” Valentino pushed his head lightly, aiming to have him lower it down to the lines of PCP on the table. “It might just help ya’ feel better.”

A voice was screaming in the back of his head, but he couldn’t hear the words. Everything was muffled, as if he was listening to it beneath the surface of a lake. His limbs felt so heavy, and his vision was full of the light red smoke that seemed to pour over him from Valentino’s coat. He could feel that it was wrong, he knew that something was not right in this situation, and yet he couldn’t find the words to explain it.

The drugs touched his nose, and he shuddered when he was forced to inhale some of it due to the way his lungs were filled. Heh, Daddy was probably right; he would feel better if he got more into his system. Didn’t matter if he had been clean for so long, or had that all been a dream? Did the hotel ever even really exist?

Did Alastor?

Angel froze, brows furrowing somewhat. Alastor...images from the fight before, of the giant deer and moth fighting each other, flashed in his mind. It was clearer than anything he was seeing in front of him, clean and precise and very _real_ feeling. But as soon as he attempted to reach out to it, the image was dispelled by a wave of Valentino’s hand that resulted in him gently touching his cheek.

“Now, ya’ know it’ll all be better. It always is, my sweet little angel. No matter how hard or bad it gets, Daddy’s always here to pick you back up.”

And the way he said it, it made Angel truly believe that. Still, even as he allowed his body to relax into the offered drugs, his mind reached desperately out to the anchor, the one thing that made him feel something real. Because even if this was happening, even if everything from before had been some bad trip or weird dream, that voice in his head continued to nag him. 

He didn’t even realize that his body was being manipulated. Valentino lightly brushed his hands over his soft fur, stroking his chest and cupping his cheek. All four arms were touching him, and even though they were so gentle, his skin crawled in disgust. His body wouldn’t respond to his brain, his face resting on the table and his gaze barely open. The red was swirling around him, suffocating him, entrapping him, and all he could do was lay there as Valentino took advantage of his prone state. 

He felt disgusting. 

That disgust was something very real, and it was…wrong when the drugs should have been working in his system. He should be high right now; unfeeling and unaware of what was going on around him. The fact that he wasn’t out of it was making his mind whirl. He could almost ignore what was going on with his body as his mind wandered back, and he reached to hold onto that tiny bit of escape.

When his eyes opened again, Angel was surprised to find himself in the white room again. The room that he recognized, which meant… His lower set of hands reached back and lightly grazed the feathers of his wings. Real, his wings were very much real and very much still there. What was more, he could feel the dull ache where he had been injured from the night’s events. 

The red smoke was still circling the room, and it threatened to breech at any moment. The looming sense of a time limit caused Angel to explore around, finding the old room that had held the reliquary of artifacts and objects; where he had broken the glass moth earlier to escape Valentino before. He didn’t have that again, but he did notice that the smoke could not go near one of the figurines. The others were trapped in it, as if it was attempting to consume the memories lingering in the very few artifacts left. But the red deer yet lingered, and the smoke would not approach it.

Angel’s hands gently cupped it, and he brought it up closer to his chest. With it being in such close proximity to his body, Valentino’s smoke couldn’t quite reach him. Within the body of the deer, he could see the broken down Radio Demon collapsed on the road. The moth was looming over him, grabbing the spear and enjoying the way the radio filter popped and sparked whenever he twisted it into his body. And though it was difficult to see, he could just barely make out his winged form under a heavy layer of smoke, eyes glazed over. 

Angel grit his teeth as he held onto the glass figurine, letting the edges bite into his palms. The pain really helped break through the smog that was filling his mind, and it helped that the memories flashed in his mind the tighter he held it. Not just the memories of that night, but of before. With Alastor, curled up on a loveseat while listening to the radio, or laughing at a truly awful joke from Charlie. He could remember the final night, too, before he vanished from his bed; Alastor’s lips pressed lightly against his, the first time ever that he had initiated contact where he otherwise would have had Angel do it. The action had caught him off guard, but it had also filled him with so much comfort and adoration. 

The glass deer shattered in his hold, and the shadows that erupted from it practically engulfed him. They spilled out into the white room, their size and movement dispelling the red smoke. In the distance, Angel could hear a dreadful snarl that burst free from the moth’s mouth, and between the rapidly dissipating smoke and the pain from the glass in his hands, he felt his body quickly start to wake up.

Angel’s eyes snapped open and he pushed himself to roll, only barely dodging the hand that slammed down where he had been laying. His body was operating on its own, a rush from the feelings that had been brought up from the last memory returning to his body. A memory that he was damn well going to repeat, no matter what.

Valentino’s wings were flapping, attempting to fill the area with smoke. But Angel shrugged it off, his mind hardened with resolve as he charged forward. Despite the pain in his own wings, he flew up to meet the grounded moth, dodging all attempts at plucking him from the air to ram his spear into Valentino’s skull. It took all of his might to push the magic through the spear and into the giant form. 

The moth’s body ignited with light, the sound forcing a cry from him. Though there was no ceremonious explosion of limbs, the moth’s smoking body fell back to the ground, with only a slight rise and fall of his chest once his body lay prone on the ground. 

Angel had leapt away from his spear after empowering it, and he turned to drag himself over to the large form of his deer. He gently touched the red pelt, frowning at the amount of blood coating him. He gently nudged him.

“Hey…hey Al? Alastor, wake up…” he mumbled, crossing over to the deer skull that acted as Alastor’s head. “Wake up, please…”

The angel spear that Valentino had been using to stab him while Angel was semi-unconscious was impaled firmly in the Radio Demon’s heart, buried almost past the hilt of the blade. Angel didn’t want to remove it for fear of doing more damage, but he wasn’t even sure if it was still working. He frowned softly, kneeling next to the skull and just wrapping all six arms around the snout. 

“Al…please wake up.”


	17. The Fallen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late post! I...have had a really bad day of playing Pokemon, and it's really brought my mental state down. So here is a chapter that made me happy and made me smile.

The city was in ruins, and it would likely take months if not years to fully repair, even with the magic in Hell. At least the cannibals wouldn’t go hungry, given the sheer number of demon corpses in the street. Those had been piled up into the street, effectively creating a buffet just outside of the hotel. If nothing else, it could potentially attract others to them, though redemption was likely no longer something to consider given the results.

Charlie sighed a little as she leaned against her balcony, watching the scavengers pick at the pile of flesh. Her cheek squished lightly against her hand as her whole body slumped. She felt…defeated, really? Redemption worked, but it wasn’t even remotely worth it. If more demons were redeemed, more of them would return to Hell. And they might not have the ties that Angel and Vaggie had when they did return. It could be worse than simply allowing the angels to purge them. 

The thought just made her drop her head, tears starting to trickle down her cheeks. Not only did she feel like an absolute failure, but now she felt directionless. And her hand moved up to clutch at her chest. 

Hands settled on her shoulders, and her vision was soon blocked by a curtain of feathers that embraced her entire body. At once, she felt herself ease a little, and she reached up to quickly rub at her eyes.

“Hun, you know you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,” Vaggie mumbled. Her shorter body pressed against Charlie from behind, arms wrapped firmly around her waist. She was standing up on her toes to be able to nuzzle her chin into the crook of Charlie’s neck, her cheek squishing lightly against the demon’s. “Come on, smile. For me?”

Charlie snorted a little, but she did give Vaggie the smallest of smiles, reaching to rub more at her eyes.

“I…I’m sorry. I just wish things had turned out different?” She sighed. “I mean, I think I just made a bigger mess than when we all started?”

“What, you wish we’d died to Valentino? That’s a bleak outlook, Charlie.” Vaggie teased, hugging her more. 

“What? No! I-“

“I’m just kidding.” Vaggie shook her head. “Come on…everything turned out alright, the experiment was technically a success, even if the results weren’t what we wanted. Redemption may not be the right step for people in Hell.”

“Yeah.” Charlie sighed, bringing a hand down to rub at the arms wrapped around her. “Heh, I’m glad you’re back? I don’t know what I would have done if you really had disappeared. The last year was really hard.”

“What, you didn’t enjoy all of your alone, one-on-one time with Alastor?” Vaggie arched her brow. 

“Al was fine,” Charlie laughed lightly. “We just kind of…hung around the hotel, though. We didn’t do much, just…tried to throw ourselves into the work. Not that we got far.”

Vaggie shook her head lightly before reaching to catch her cheek, pulling the demon into a kiss that had her melting into it. It was needy and starving, Charlie turning around to fully face Vaggie while they leaned into each other. She was desperate for it, running a hand along Vaggie’s incredible wings that were wrapped around her. 

When they finally parted, they were panting heavily. Their faces were a matching scarlet color, with Vaggie’s eye heavy while looking up at her. 

“…I needed that,” Charlie laughed a little. She felt so hopeless, but there Vaggie was, propping her up once again. She leaned forward to press her forehead against the shorter woman.

“I knew you did,” Vaggie offered back softly. “Just because it didn’t end up how we wanted it to doesn’t mean you failed, okay?” She brushed the tears from Charlie’s face. “All it means is that we go back to the drawing board.” Her wings twitched lightly. “Besides, I don’t know if I can be exactly upset about these?”

Charlie laughed lightly against her, letting her eyes fall shut. She just let her body fully lean against Vaggie, touching her just to be absolutely sure that she was there and wasn’t some desperate figment of her imagination. 

“…what if instead of redemption to Heaven, it’s reincarnation to Earth?” Charlie spoke up after a moment. 

“Huh?”

“I mean, if they can redeem themselves and prove they aren’t bad, maybe they can…go to Earth? Isn’t that a human concept, reincarnation? Or maybe we can reform Heaven!” Charlie’s eyes started to light up as she saw the possibilities. It wasn’t over, there were other paths ahead of her!

Vaggie groaned a little but smiled, reaching to catch her cheeks and squish them between her hands, nuzzling their noses together.

“It might not be immediately possible, but…why not try?” She laughed lightly. “Though I’m going to skew my results a bit. I’d rather not get scooped up again, and honestly I’m kind of partial to the wings.”

“Speaking of, when your bones are healed, can you take me flying?” Charlie peeked up. “If you can carry me.”

“Oh don’t even.” Vaggie snorted. “You don’t weight that much.” She leaned up to kiss her again, and Charlie just pulled her closer, closing her eyes and enjoying it.

***

“I’m fine, quit tryin’ to mother me so much!” Cherri whined lightly, but she couldn’t complain too much given she was being held down by four arms with a lovely view of the angel’s chest at eye level. Currently, the spider was making use of her size and extra limbs to keep the cyclopean woman from moving around, like she wanted to, so her injuries could actually heal. And while she normally hated being bed ridden, this moment wasn’t…too bad.

“Yer gonna’ rip open your stitches if ya’ try movin’,” Molly huffed down at her. Her wings were open, despite the bandages, and curtaining the two of them. “I swear if ya’ try to get up one more time, I’m gonna’ lay on top of ya’, missy.”

“That a promise?” Cherri chirped brightly. Still, she did lay back against the pillow, laughing away. “Hey, by the way, if the flirtin’ gets too much, just tell me to back off, ‘kay?”

Molly blinked, sitting back to tilt her head at Cherri. She absently rubbed one of her arms before smiling lightly.

“I never really… _got_ ta’ flirt before?” She tilted her head, her eyes shifting a little to look past Cherri. “It’s…kinda’ nice?”

Cherri watched her before squeezing her hands, pulling them lightly so they rested on her shoulders. One of her arms still hurt like a bitch from when Pentious had bit her, but she focused on the angel above her instead. 

“Well then, how’s about I keep flirtin’ with ya’ until ya’ feel comfortable enough to lemme kiss you?” Cherri wiggled her sole brow, shooting the much taller woman the best grin she could.

“Hmm.” Molly studied her for a while before leaning down to plant a kiss on her, a little uncertain and unfamiliar, but otherwise resolute in her choice. Much to Cherri’s surprise, who stared up at her for a while before her face ignited.

“I don’t need to be babied,” Molly told her firmly. “I _was_ part of the mob, even if I didn’t getta’ go out as much as Tony and Archie.” She just grinned. “And I never got to explore anything fun ‘cause Daddy never let me. So…since he’s not here, I’m gonna’ smooch the pretty gal that woke me up, and she’s gonna’ show me all the best parts of datin’.”

Cherri stared at her quietly before she just started laughing, her hands coming up to take Molly’s lower set, squeezing them gently.

“Holy shit, yer basically a female Angel. Which I guess makes sense, the two of you are twins, aint’cha?” Cherri just beamed, unable to stop the way her cheeks lit right up while she stared at the angel. Those pearly white wings shifted a little before folding around them more. “Sure this ain’t goin’ too fast?”

“I was told ta’ wait my entire life. Until I found the right man, the right guy, the right fella’ for the Family. And then after, I never got the chance to experience. There was none of this in Heaven. So excuse me if, for the first time in my whole life and afterlife, I don’t wanna’ wait.” Molly gently squeezed her before leaning down to rest their foreheads together. “I wanna’ experience all of it, and why not with the cutest gal I’ve ever laid eyes on?”

Cherri whined before doing her best to hide her face. She was so red it almost matched the sclera of her eye. Her heart was practically racing in her chest, fluttering pleasantly and making her squirm a little. She’d never actually…well, this was definitely a first!

“Did I say something wrong?”

“N-No!” Cherri shook her head quickly. “No, just never heard someone talk quite like you before. Even Angel ain’t as great with his words. I…fuck, I’d love that, Molls. I’d really love that, everything you’re describin’. It ain’t gonna’ be some…fancy ceremony or nothin’, just keep that in mind. Probably just goin’ out for iced coffee, blowin’ shit up in town, potentially killin’ some other demons?”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m pretty good at that, hmm?” Molly mused lightly, batting her eyes. And a combination of her words and that look had Cherri just blushing even more. Oh she really liked this gal. 

“Hope this still ain’t too much for ya’?”

Molly just laughed before shifting to settle next to her so she wasn’t pressing on either of their injuries, though she let one of her wings simply drape over them both while she stared at Cherri, a nice smile across her face.

“It’s almost too little, but we’re still banged up so we can’t really do much. But how about we start talkin’ about our first ever date?”

“Oh! I got this awesome place we can go to, sells the absolute best milkshakes. And I mean they’re practically to die for.” Cherri shifted to relax against her, happy to drink in the form besides her.

***

They would probably have to stay at the hotel for a while, given that their floating home was in ruins. Arackniss made a face as he limped through the halls. He wasn’t one to really lay down, even when practically ordered to by the cat demon that seemed to be making the rounds to check in on everyone. He just had to keep more to himself.

Pentious had managed to get away mostly unscathed, and he was currently set up in one of the ground floor rooms with the remaining egg boys that had survived the whole ordeal. And Arackniss was more than happy to kick them out to go be someone else’s problem as he sought out the serpent.

“Got the official key to the room,” he grunted, holding said object up. “We can stay for a little while until we can get that dirigible in the sky.”

“Wonderful.” Pentious perked up, nudging his tools aside. It looked like he had already started on the circuitry of the machine, and had relieved the hotel of some of its tools to do so. “I have requested that as much of my fine craft be carried closer to the hotel so we may actively work on reparations.” He paused before glancing over at him. “Do you know how the girls are doing?”

Arackniss looked at him in surprised before snorting lightly, moving to lean against the side of the dresser. 

“Ya’ really think that bitch would be upset with ya’? The two of you fight all the time.” He waved one of his lower hands. “I really don’t think yer ever gonna’ actually make her upset with ya’. As for my sister, she’s stronger than that. Molly can take a hit, even if Tony and I always tried to keep her safe.” He arched a brow over at him and gestured. “I don’t think it’s easy to be mad at ya’, Pent.”

Pentious leaned back, folding his arms in thought for a moment, before he smiled. He pushed himself up and slithered across the floor, happily settling in front of him with his arm bracing himself against the dresser. His body practically towered over Arackniss, and he just snorted lightly.

“What, tryin’ to posture now?”

“You know I am attempting to become an Ovelrord. I do not concern myself with what other demons think of me. I simply…wanted to see if they perhaps fear and respect me.” Pentious absently shined his claws on the front of his suit, really trying to pass off as if he didn’t care.

“Uh huh. Well, I think I heard Cherri say she doesn’t wanna’ ever see ya’ again,” Arackniss commented offhandedly.

“What?! But you said she wouldn’t hate me!” All at once the bravado the snake was putting out slipped, and his sail pinned back. “I knew it! I have broken our pact as rivals by slithering too far!”

“Relax, Pent!” Arackniss laughed, reaching up to put a hand on his arm. “I was pullin’ yer leg. Tail, I guess in yer case.”

“Why would you pull my tail?”

“It’s an expression! Means I was messin’ with ya.” Arackniss tugged him down lightly, giving the snake no choice but to bring his head down so it was close enough for the spider to peck. “Yer still a big softy.”

“That was really rather rude,” Pentious whined. His arms looped around the smaller spider, simply lifting him up so that he could manhandle him into an easier position, curled up on the floor with Arackniss in the center of the coil. His arms wrapped snuggly around him and he hummed. “I could squeeze the life out of you without any effort.”

Arackniss snorted at the attitude, but he settled nice and comfortably in his spot surrounded on all sides by Pentious. He wiggled a little to make sure that pressure wasn’t being too badly placed on his injuries and he lightly stroked the scales.

“Yeah, yeah. The big bad kingpin is gonna’ snuff out his best operative, huh?” He just laughed before going to move, only to find himself stuck more firmly. “Uh, Pent?”

“It would be so easy, too.” Pentious rumbled happily as he leaned down to kiss the top of the spider’s head. “You are so miniscule by comparison that I could almost swallow you entirely whole.”

“Alright, easy does it, I’m sorry I teased ya’ about Cherri.” Arackniss wasn’t really scared by his words, but he did start to shift a little. “Cut it out, alright?”

Pentious rumbled against his back, leaning down to nuzzle against him lightly. His hands lightly gripped the spider, pulling him closer while his coils wound more firmly around him, careful of his injuries but otherwise effectively pinning him down. He pouted a little as he tried to pull free again, but he was effectively frozen in place.

“Pent, c’mon!”

“I think I would rather you remain here,” Pentious commented lightly. He ran a claw along Arackniss’ chest. “Where it is just you, me, and a bed.”

“Er…what for…?” Arackniss’ cheeks warmed a little bit, his heart skipping a beat. 

“Oh, I think you know what for.” Pentious lazily adjusted himself so he was carrying Arackniss with him over to the bed, getting comfortable but still tying the spider up in his body. “A bed where we may be comfortable, where we can enjoy each other’s companies…”

Arackniss shifted a little, peeking back at the snake. His cheeks were red beneath his black fur, and his heart skipped a few beats. It would be so scandalous, so rude, and yet… He opened his mouth to say something when the door cracked open.

“Glad ya’ finally got him to lay the fuck down.” The damn cat demon had poked his head in to check in on them, and he nodded at Pentious when he saw the two of them in bed. “Nice work.”

“I know how to speak to my little spider,” Pentious chirped happily. “He will rest, do not concern yourself with his injuries.”

“Good. I ain’t no fuckin’ nurse.” The door closed and Arackniss just stared at it, jaw agape.

“Now now, I can imagine how this must look-“

“YOU GODDAMN TRAITOR!”

***

Angel was stifling his laughter upon hearing his brother’s outburst from the room. He held a hand up, and was delighted when Husk met it with a high five.

“I can’t believe Pent actually kept a straight face while he was sayin’ those words.”

“Right?” Husk snorted, a smile tugging at his lips. The cat was pretty banged up himself, they both were. But Arackniss was not going to lay down and rest no matter what they did, so it was worth finding a way to make sure he stayed in bed so the rest of them could relax.

“Why don’t you go lay down, Husky?” Angel gestured lightly. “Think you’ve done your not-job enough today to earn your not-paycheck.”

“Har har.” Husk grunted. He eyed Angel before gesturing. “Why don’t you go lay down yourself. Looks like you’re barely able to stand.”

“I will, in a bit.” Angel held up two of his hands, the lower set cradling Fat Nuggets closely. “And no, ya’ don’t gotta’ tell Pentious to seduce me to make me lay down in bed. Though I wouldn’t be opposed, I think Nissy would kill me.” He laughed before turning, waving over his shoulder. “I’ll see ya’ around, Husk.”

“You too. Glad you’re back.” The second statement was almost too quiet for Angel to hear, but it made him smile all the same. Being wanted was a very good feeling, and it put a smile on his face as he walked through the hotel, cooing down at his little pink son. 

The last few weeks had been a whirlwind of events, from the end of the cleanse to the demonic turf war to the public complaints about ruined buildings and bodies all over the place. Not everyone was a cannibal, after all. But really, Angel hadn’t been focused on any of that. Politics were just not something he cared for all that much, and none of those other demons mattered much to him. No, there was one demon that had been on his mind for the past few days.

When Angel got to the room, it was dark. He couldn’t quite tell if it was because the lights were off, or because every surface within was covered in shadows. A few of the imps flitted about, looking towards the door and hissing before they saw who it was standing there. Angel was allowed inside of the heavily shadowed room without issue otherwise, the door shutting behind him.

“Damn, Al. Sure got the whole teenaged goth girl vibe right now,” he laughed, crossing over towards the bed. Each step had the shadows separating for him, giving him freedom to move unhindered. He even stopped to run a hand along a few of the tendrils, smiling when they twitched over at him. “That’s more activity than I’ve seen. Hopefully you’re starting to feel better?”

Alastor was laying stretched out on the bed, completely stripped down to his briefs. His ribcage was still open from his prior transformation, with his organs bare to the atmosphere. His heart was still healing, beating very slowly. But still beating…

“Heh, still breathing there?” Angel shifted, reaching to brush the red hair out of Alastor’s sleeping face. “Ya’ almost look dead like that. Kinda’…freakin’ me out still, Al.” He was still nervous seeing him like this. But the shadows seemed to be reacting more strongly today? Surely that was a good sign? He had to hope so… 

He ended up sitting next to Alastor’s bed, reaching to lightly take his hand. His wings curled around himself, and he couldn’t help but worry his lower lip with his fangs. Everyone else was relaxing with their partner, or just relaxing. And here he was, worried that his would never wake up. 

Fat Nuggets snorted around his lap, nudging against his legs a few times before pawing at his stomach, trying to shove his snout against him for pets. And his lower set obliged, gently rubbing his head and back. The motion was soothing, making him feel at least a little more at ease.

When tears threatened to start falling down his cheeks, however, he reached up to wipe them quickly. An imp lightly nuzzled up beneath his arms to help him, and he couldn’t help the gentle laugh that escaped him. One of his lower set of hands stroked its head while he continued to wipe away his tears.

“If ya’ can, tell the deer bastard to wake up, would ya’?” Angel whispered lightly. “He’s been out for a while. And…I know you’re still here, and his powers keep getting’ stronger, but…I’m scared? Heh…” He paused, bunching his fists up on his knees. “This…musta’ been what he felt when I disappeared. Just…suddenly losin’ someone ya’ care about.”

Angel let his head fall back against the bed, his wings wrapping around him like a blanket. His lower set of hands continued to pet both the sole imp and Fat Nuggets, who were both taking turns trying to comfort him to the best of their ability. Of course, there was only so much the two of them could even do, really. Angel was still waiting for someone else entirely.

His mind was so focused that he didn’t realize the hand in his was starting to squeeze back. He shifted a little and closed his eyes, pulling the hand to his chest only to jump when fingers lightly stroked his fur.

“…I do not mind you holding my hand, but the angle is rather painful.”

“Al!” Angle jumped up, gripping Fat Nuggets and the imp against his stomach as he wheeled around.

One of Alastor’s eyes was cracked open, and he was watching Angel with a tight grin. His heartbeat had started to pick up, visible in his chest cavity by the way it was pulsing. And there was definitely more color returning to Alastor’s ashen cheeks. 

“My apologies that it took so long. Valentino really did a number on me this time,” Alastor offered meekly, squeezing the hand that Angel still held. He lightly tugged at him, and Angel moved over to sit next to the bed, resting his chin on Alastor’s pillow.

“Don’t gotta’ apologize, just get better and be okay.” Angel shook his head, pulling his hand over to kiss the back of it. 

“I am working on that.” Alastor nodded. He closed his eyes for a few moments, taking a few breaths – it was weird seeing his lungs inflate before deflating with that action, but Angel pushed it from his mind – before looking at him again. “I shall be fine, I simply need more time.”

“Well, take all the time ya’ need.” Angel nodded. “And if ya’ need anything else, I’m here. Okay?” He smiled up at him, and the deer demon gave him an even warmer one back, releasing his hand to cup his cheek. Angel eagerly pressed into it.

“I’m glad you have returned, Angel. I never realized I could miss someone so badly that it hurt.” Alastor chuckled softly. “No more redemption. Drink all of the alcohol and do all of the drugs and commit all of the murder that you need to so that you can remain here.”

“Way ahead of ya’. Bet killin’ an angel is worth at least a few centuries down here.” Angel closed his eyes. “I’m gonna’ stay right here though, okay?”

“We both will.” Alastor closed his eyes and relaxed his head back against his pillow. He hummed lightly in his throat, and soon the shadows around the room began to echo it. A familiar song reached Angel’s ears, and his smile only widened before he closed his eyes. He lifted Fat Nuggets and the little shadow imp up onto the bed and rested his head on his arms, relaxing into the hum of the music that soon filled the room.

__

_Will you remember? Will you forget?_

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also...this is the end of it. The end of my first fanfiction, and what a wild ride it has been. It won't be the last, of course. I really enjoyed writing this, I've never actually posted something like this, or even finished it before. So I hope you all enjoyed the adventure, I most certainly did. I will likely take a break as I determine what my next step is. Also, #MollyBombWeek is coming up! I will be writing prompts for that one, along with #RadioDust later in the month.
> 
> https://twitter.com/MagusThree 
> 
> Here is a link to my Twitter if you're ever interested. I post a lot of Hazbin Hotel stuff in general. 
> 
> And really, thank you for those who were with me for the entire time. You truly helped me see this to the end, and for that I thank you. Hopefully you stayed tuned for whatever I plan for the future.
> 
> All the love!


End file.
